Do you think 234 trees should be planted on Littletown Green?

By Alan Kimble

East Devon District Council (EDDC) is planning to break its word and spoil one of the best bits of public open space in and around Honiton.

Littletown Green, is on the south side of Honiton, and is a popular open space that has been used for many decades by local people. At one time local children used to cross it to bathe in the River Gissage, people sunned themselves there, picked blackberries there, and in 1986 there was a garden fete and sports day held there. Nowadays, in better weather, many people just like to walk and meet friends there. It is particularly popular with dog walkers because dogs can still run freely there; in winter some people actually walk their dogs there after dark or before dawn because the six streetlights on Honiton Bottom Road also throw some of their light on the green. This road runs right down one side of the green.

Many who use the green say that they particularly like Littletown Green because it feels 'safe'. This is apparently because the road is slightly above and overlooks the green, so that if anything bad was happening on the green it would be quickly noticed, and something done about it. So the connection between the road and the green is quite important. 

Now the council is intending to plant a broad strip of trees along the green just next to the road. As these trees grow they will block off the view and the light from the road. Users of the green are saying that this will make it feel less safe. The police would almost certainly agree because people who are up to no good tend to avoid places where they know their behaviour might be seen and reported. 

The council started digging holes in the green for these trees (234 of them) at the end of February. They stopped digging when I told them it's illegal to dig up a town green but, a day later, they returned and continued digging. They only stopped when I and a neighbour moved the sticks that were marking out their planting. However, they are now intending to start digging again and say they will plant the trees on Thursday 30th March 2023. 

There have been arguments with the council over this land before. The council owns the land but it was given to them in 2006 by the company that built one of the local housing estates. The company gave it to the council on condition that it would be kept as 'public open space'. But, behind the scenes, someone in the council altered the land-transfer document to say that the land could also be used for allotments – so they were planning to break this condition almost immediately! Local people found out about this and hundreds of them signed a petition objecting to the allotments. But the plan was only finally brought to a halt when a few local people successfully applied for the land to be registered as a town green (this is legally similar to a village green). Village and town greens are protected from being dug up or developed by a couple of quite old laws.

In 2011, after a bit of legal argy-bargy, the council got an outside legal opinion which told them that the addition of allotments to their land-transfer document was not legally kosher and wouldn't stand up in court because it would be trumped by the laws protecting a town green. ('not legally kosher' are my words - but that's what their lawyer meant!). The outside lawyer added that the evidence showed 'the land was intended to be kept as open space.'  That was important – it showed he agreed with what local people had suspected.

Now it's all happening over again. The council are trying to turn nearly a quarter of Littletown Green's open space into woodland. If you look at the council-neglected, 30-ft deep, strip of no-go, bramble infested woodland on the side of the green next to the river, you'll be getting a preview of what will happen beside Honiton Bottom Road. The new strip of woodland certainly won't be public open space in a few years' time. 

The document that transferred this land into the council's possession 17 years ago said "The transfer is made in consideration of the Transferee adopting the Property as a public open space. The transfer is not for money or anything that has a monetary value." In other words, the builders were giving the land to the council at no cost on the legal understanding that it would be maintained as public open space. The document was signed by the same chief executive who is there now – he was putting his name to the commitment to keep the land as public open space.

But it looks very much as if the council can't be trusted to keep its word – even when it's been signed and sealed by the chief executive. And now the same chief executive is using the council's legal muscle to over-ride the concerns of local people, remove nearly a quarter of the green's open space and turn it into a less safe space. Isn't it time to return power to the people?

By Alan Kimbell