Gloucester City Council has been looking at the best ways to manage small areas of unadopted green land around the city.
A report published today (13th March) outlines recommendations on how to manage areas of unadopted green land and areas near watercourses which are unsightly, discount pharm overgrown or dangerous.
The review has been carried out by Gloucester City Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Task and Finish Group to identify where these areas are and the options for dealing with them.
The findings will be presented to Cabinet on 25th March when the group will make a number of recommendations including changes to planning practice to make sure developers meet their obligations, and community clean ups where the city council would join up with partners to tackle areas together.
The group will further recommend that residents be written to where land is found to be in private ownership, and that where appropriate, residents will be able to take ownership of odd pieces of land, which are of no value or use to the city council, to make sure that the land is maintained.
Cllr Kate Haigh, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Task and Finish Group said, “There are areas of unadopted green land, particularly on new estates but also on established developments, which have become overgrown. These areas can be unsightly, and can impede access for pedestrians and cyclists. It is apparent there is some confusion over who is responsible for maintaining these pieces of land so we met as a group to look carefully at the best ways to get them identified and managed in future.”
Cllr Paul James, Leader of Gloucester City Council said, “We need a plan to manage overgrown areas and I’d like to thank the task group for putting together these recommendations and for looking at how we can work with developers, residents and our partners to tackle the issue together.”
To read the full report visit www.gloucester.gov.uk.