A RESIDENT’S bid to create Didcot’s first town green to protect it from housing development should be approved, a council officer has said.

Oxfordshire County Council’s Peter Clark has recommended councillors accept Trevor Davies’s application for Queensway on Monday.

The green space is used by children as a play area and last year residents applied to the council to have it listed as a town green.

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Trevor Davies submitted the application in November and said the area, known as The Green, had been used by residents for 60 years.

Land can be registered as a town green if it has been used by residents for recreation for at least 20 years.

In July South Oxfordshire District Council turned down a plan for four homes on the land because it would result in the loss of amenity space.

Mr Davies, 65, of Queensway, had the backing of 70 residents and said he was delighted by the recommendation.

He said of the move: “That would make it very difficult, almost impossible, for houses to be built on the land.

“This is looking very positive and people in the area have been very supportive.”

The grandfather of 15 and former toolmaker has cut some of the green’s grass for 20 years and now uses a ride-on mower.

Mr Clark, county solicitor and head of legal services, said there is sufficient evidence to say that each part of the legal test has been met.

Town councillor Margaret Davies said: “This sounds like good news.

“Residents have really looked after this land for decades and it will be exciting if Didcot gets its first town green.”

In 2002 following a public inquiry a planning inquiry ruled that part of the Trap Grounds in North Oxford should be designated a town green.

Last year a residents’ bid to designate land at Northway in Oxford as a town green to protect it from plans for a new road link to Barton was turned down by a planning inspector.

The county council’s planning and regulation committee will be asked to formally reject that application at Monday’s meeting and pass the Didcot bid. The open meeting will be held at County Hall, New Road, Oxford from 2pm.

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