RESIDENTS have launched a second attempt to get a stretch of open land designated as a town green.

Four community groups in Thamesmead lodged their application to reclassify land on Erith Marshes, known as Southmere Green, with Bexley Council last Friday.

The land, sandwiched between a designated nature reserve and Southmere Park, is owned by Tilfen, the commercial arm of the former Thamesmead Town and is zoned for industrial redevelopment.

Residents have been trying to preserve the land, which is home to wildlife, including endangered water voles, for more than three years. In 1999, they applied under new legislation, to have the land reclassified as a town green. At the time, the German supermarket company had just got planning permission to build a regional distribution depot on it.

The residents' bid was turned down in 2000 by Bexley Council because it did not accept south Thamesmead was "a locality" as required under the legislation.

The supermarket company Lidl eventually decided to build the depot on the Belvedere industrial park instead but the land is still vulnerable to redevelopment.

Now, the legislation has been amended in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and people only have to prove a "neighbourhood" instead of a "locality" which should make successful applications easier.

Bexley Council is also under pressure to amend its Unitary Development Plan to withdraw the land from industrial zoning to save the remaining marshes from development.

Southmere and Saints residents' associations, the Thamesmead Community Forum and Age Concern Thamesmead have formed the Southmere Green Application Group, to fight for town green status. They are backed by environmental groups.

December 13, 2001 16:59