Fencing of Glebe land off St White’s Road
After it was brought to our attention that the Glebe parcel off St White’s Road was being fenced, Councillor Chris Witham contacted the Gloucester Diocesan Board of Finance, who are responsible for the land, for clarification of what work is taking place.
GDBF confirmed that the fencing work is to protect the land and prevent illegal activity taking place there. There have been a number of reports of motorbikes and cars being used on the field posing a threat to the public as well as the field being illegally used for camping last summer.
The land is private property owned by Gloucester Diocese and there are no public rights of way across the land or rights of public access. The land was previously leased to St White’s School for a playing field but this is no longer required due to the new school development.
There are currently no plans for the land to be sold or developed.
Sadly, some of the fencing work was vandalised last night and has had to be repaired today. Signs were also torn down. We ask everyone to respect the rights of landowners to protect their property and encourage everyone to be vigilant of anyone vandalising property in the area. In this case, GDBF is trying to act in the best interests of the community to discourage anti-social behaviour and make the area safe.
A secure gate is being installed to allow access for maintenance and so that the grass can be cut throughout the summer to keep the area tidy.
Maintenance what maintenance think the grass was cut once last year..might as well let it become a wild meadow attracting bees & butterflies especially if wildflower seed is scattered around in places.
Hi Vanessa, we don’t have specific details but I spoke to the contractors today when I visited the site and they have been asked to cut the grass for this coming year.
I live right by the field and used it to walk my dog who loved to run around there. I haven’t see or heard of any such activities (camping,bike etc) it’s a shame it’s been fenced off as now have to walk my dog in the woods being cautious of boar.
Such a shame, we used to play football there when we were younger and we had a park to play in! Now where can all the kids go?
Hi Andrew, we have a recreation area not far from the Glebe land at Double View. There is a Multi-use Games Area (MUGA), toddlers area and balance beams. You can see the location on our recreation areas map.
thanks for giving us this imformation, i agree it has been used by motorvehicles and has been seriously neglected over the past few years, the school stopped using it partly due to the amound of dog excrement they would have to clear up, but it would be a shame to lose it all together, surely it could be put too use as a comunity park area for familly get togethers or comunity picnics in the summer for example, failing that what about pedestrian gated access and some benches scattred around for people to just sit and watch the wild flowers be enjoyed by bees and buterflys etc,rather than see buildings go up in the future. just a thought.
Hi Bob, thank you for your comment. Certainly, there was a lot of dog excrement around when I visited the site yesterday. Unfortunately, as this is private property, we have no say in how it is used. However, there are currently no plans to develop on this land.
I know it may well be private land but what a pointless endeavour. They haven’t had any issues with dog walkers, young people putting up goalposts, camping etc. Previously in the 28 years I’ve been alive. Anti social behaviour? The only thing that’s been anti social is the neglect that this was subjected to By the very people who have now fenced it off.
Have you investigated fully why this has suddenly been fenced off? Seems a bit peculiar to me. Its not as if it was maintained. I live on st whites road and as the comment above I’ve only ever seen it cut once. The anti social behaviour crowd must have been the many dog walkers as thats the only people I’ve seen over there.
The key word that I can see is currently. THERE IS CURRENTLY NO.PLANS FOR DEVELOPMENT.
It screams development in my eyes. All this time without issue to then suddenly fence it off?
With the way it was left to grow over the past few years a nice meadow for people to enjoy would be the best use. Another ‘much needed’ development would be an absolute waste.
Hi Daniel, as one of our photos shows, there is evidence of off-road motorbikes being ridden on the field. My understanding as to why this has happened now is that a number of local residents have reported anti-social behaviour to the Police and this has triggered the recent work to prevent access to the land. In my discussions with the contractors, they explained that this is not the kind of fencing they install if land is being fenced for development. Fencing for development would be far more substantial.
Hi Chris,
Thank you for the reply.
I have to say it still feels like people are just giving tiny bits of information regarding this and not the full story.
The pictures do not indicate a date, specific type of vehicle or owner of said vehicle. Its a picture of tracks in the ground, nothing more, nothing less.
I’ve lived next to the field for going on 5 years and haven’t heard of any anti social behaviour being reported so I guess we will agree to disagree on that.
I look forward to seeing what plans they actually have for this land as leaving it as they have done is such a waste.
Thanks
Dan
Hi Daniel,
For reference, I took all of those photos on Wednesday lunchtime (08/03/17) when I visited the site to meet the contractors. The tyre tracks looked consistent with those of an off-road motorbike (all though I am not an expert) and were in a break in the hedge that was too narrow for a car.
We have published all of the information we currently have.
Best regards
Chris