Kingsmead council reclaims its land

Leftwich residents are being warned that garden extensions built into parish land will be cleared and, in a separate issue, extra care builders have been told to move a fence encroaching on public space.

Kingsmead Parish Council discussed the ‘land grabs’ at its latest meeting.

The first centres on St George’s Field, which was planned as a buffer between Lime Avenue and the Kingsmead development.

Clr Chris Reed said: “There’s a wooden fence acting as a buffer to Lime Avenue and a lot have used it as a rubbish tip, some have grown vegetables there and there’s wood piled up and covered with a tarpaulin.

“What I think we need to do is post a letter saying that we’re going to clear the buffer out so if anything belongs to you and you want it then get it because we’re going to clear it.”

Clr Laura Hoey, parish council chairman, said: “We’re not stopping people from walking over it, we’re just removing the rubbish and asking people not to dump rubbish there.”

The second issue was caused by builders at the Anderton Place development, in Sandbach Drive.

Clr Reed said: “We had a call from a resident saying the builders had put a fence up which removed 15 to 20 yards of parish land and claimed it for their own.”

Clrs Helen Weltman and Emma Bannister spoke to the builders and the fence has now been moved backwards.

Clr Bannister said: “They thought they were doing the residents a favour by not leaving a passageway and said they’d looked into it but no-one owned it.”

Clr Reed confirmed that the strip was parish council land and added: “I went and had a look and they’ve left it in one hell of a mess.

“Their metal fence is still on our property and they’ve dug it all out.

“It was nicely wild with grass, trees and eight or nine laurel trees which they’ve removed.”

The council bought and planted the laurel trees about 18 months ago and will look back to see how much they cost.

They are asking for an urgent site meeting with the project manager.