I READ with interest your article last week on the transfer of council-owned land to Red Kite Housing Association, with the heading – “Has WDC revealed all open spaces?” – being of particular significance.
Steve Tucker, Wycombe District Council’s Interim Head of Housing said in the article that an open space is “...not a grass verge, it’s of some size.”
Well Hicks Farm Wood is of some size, but it was not listed as being part of the transfer [WDC intends to transfer its open spaces and play areas to Red Kite]. At first, we were pleased, thinking that the wood was to remain in council hands as we had requested.
However, we enquired if this was so and received a very ambivalent reply. It appears that the council officers are not sure if it is a green space or not.
We are sure it is, as at a full council meeting the then Leader of the Council, Cllr Lesley Clarke, praised our group for its activities which led to the wood being entered into the Local Plan as a green space in 2004.
If it has somehow become part of the housing stock without notification or consultation, we will respond by expressing our concerns to the appropriate external agencies at the end of the transfer consultations.
Anyone interested in the Hicks Farm Wood Project can find it on Facebook by searching for Urban Habitats Conservation Group.
Frances Presland, Hicks Farm Rise, High Wycombe, Honorary Secretary, Urban Habitats Conservation Group
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