umpston wrote:
"Richard J." wrote in message
k...
JWBA68 wrote:
From Watford Observer, Friday, December 24, 2004
[snip]
"This is a valuable Green Belt site which is important to the
local community in Croxley

It's a former railway-owned tip that has been roughly cleared, and
most of it is fenced off and inaccessible to the local community.
How can it be important to them in its present state?

Their website http://www.keepcroxleygreen.co.uk/ says that "The
land was compulsory purchased by LUL and they obtained a licence
solely for tipping. Tipping stopped over 25 years ago. LUL gave up
their licence and tried to offload the land firstly to TRDC for £1
and then to CG Parish Council – for use by the community. It has
been used by the community for years. We want to keep it that way!"

I've never been there but the website includes photos of what looks
like an attractive rural scene.

Well, it actually looks to me like a former tip! I have to say (and I
have walked through it) that it is one of the least attractive "rural"
landscapes that I have encountered around London. They conveniently
forget to mention that there is also a factory in the middle of this
wood. The part that they photographed is of course the part near the
canal that is actually open to the public. There is a much larger part
that is overgrown and fenced off*.

In a case like this where supposedly "operational land" in fact
hasn't been used for many years and has no track on it, shouldn't
the locals have a right to be heard ?

Yes, of course they have a right to be heard, but really we're not
talking about a rural paradise here. The track entering the site is
still there, by the way*.

* Photos at
http://rjnews.fotopic.net/c380339.html

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)