Sale of popular field sparks concern on social media

* One of the agents' pictures of the field which is up for sale.

The proposed sale of a popular field close to the town has caused concern amongst local people on social media.

A post appeared last Saturday revealing that agents J.J Dell & Co of Oswestry were offering “a very rare opportunity to acquire approximately one acre or thereabouts of pasture land with road frontage situated in the town of Llangollen."

Comments about this on Facebook have identified the plot as what is known locally as Sara’s Field or Cae Hir.

The agents’ description says there is a public footpath running the full length of the land, which is being sold freehold with vacant possession through informal tender.

It goes on: “Use of land is restricted to pasture. Clawback – there is an expired Planning Permission to develop for housing. If development shall become possible within the next 20 years the purchaser will be obliged to pay a quarter of the increase in value to the seller.”

Another Facebook post giving background on the field quotes an article from the Daily Post, originally published in 2005, which says: “An action group yesterday called for the public to come up with memories of a field to save it from developers' bulldozers.

“Cae Hir, a long narrow field which overlooks the town of Llangollen, was left for the use of local people by writer Sara Pugh Jones.

“Plans to build houses on it have been thrown out, but the Cae Hir Action Group fears there could be an appeal.

“John Fowles, a member of the action group, said: ‘Before Sarah Pugh Jones died, she tried to ensure that the field would be kept for pastoral purposes. She offered it to the National Trust and to the then Llangollen Council, but they were not prepared to take it on.

"’She then left it to three local men, with a covenant that it should not be built on. The field has, however, been sold and the new owner wants to build houses on it.’”

A number of those who commented on Saturday’s post were opposed to any development of the field.

One said: “No more houses please,” and another, “they might as well take all the beauty of our fantastic town,” while another asked, “could a village green application be put on it?”

There was also talk of an action group being set up to purchase the field to save it from any future development, with one suggestion of a Just Giving page being set up to finance this.