Beauty spot bought 'to stop anyone building on it'

A beauty spot which had been under threat of development has been bought by a local council to stop anyone building on it.

The 148-acre site at Berryhill Fields, described as the "green lungs" of Stoke-on-Trent, was one of six pieces of land the city council has acquired from developer St Modwen Properties for a "minimal fee".

It was earmarked for up to 1,300 homes under the now-abandoned joint local plan for Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle, sparking a long-running campaign to save the area.

The council has not revealed how much it paid St Modwen for the land but said it wanted to "maximise its potential as a natural asset".

When the Berryhill Fields site was dropped from local plan and assessed as being "not currently viable" campaigners called for it to be protected permanently.

Council bosses said they planned to work with Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and other landowners and would also discuss proposals with local residents over the coming months.

"The reason why we've bought that land off St Modwen is because we want to make sure no-one builds on it," said council leader Jane Ashworth, speaking to BBC Radio Stoke.

"We have a long term plan, which isn't very long term, probably in the next few months – to extend the nature reserve which is already there on Berryhill Fields and talk to people about whether or not we can have something like a proper developed nature park," Ashworth added.

Campaigners have described Berryhill Fields as Stoke-on-Trent's green lungs, serving as a sanctuary for wildlife and an important leisure space for local residents.

Dave Burgess, vice chair of the Save Berryhill Fields Action Group, welcomed the announcement.

"Just the other day I took some video of deer on the land with my phone," he said.

"It's quite unique to have a wildlife corridor like that so close to the city centre. It's very well used by people for walking and leisure as well."

Acknowledging the authority had a high housing target, he said bosses should focus on developing brownfield sites and bringing heritage buildings back into use, instead of building on greenfield land.

The five other pieces of land acquired by the council as part of the deal with St Modwen were:

• Mossfield Road, which runs through Mossfield Industrial Estate and connects to Berryhill Fields. The council plans to upgrade the road to highways adoption standard, tackling issues with drainage and flooding.
• Land to the east of Woodpark Lane and Lightwood Lane, Longton. The 22-acre site is part of a larger "broad location" earmarked for up to 3,000 homes in the current draft local plan. The council says options are being reviewed for potential development on the land.
• Land at Newport Lane, Burslem. The 1.45-acre parcel of land will support delivery of the multi-million-pound Newport Lane Link Road, a key project in the local bus service improvement plan.
• Land known as South Stoke Play Park, Edgbaston Drive, Trentham Lakes (1.93 acres). The council plans to improve the existing children's play area and multi-use games area as part of its £500,000 parks and greenspace capital improvement project.
• The headlease for Festival Park. The council says it has put in place arrangements for the management of the retail park and surrounding greenspace.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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