SIR – When is a village green not a village green? A letter in last week s paper from a Mrs Louise Keeble of Letchworth refers to this. Mrs Keeble says that the village green application will protect the future of this field for social and leisure activit

SIR - When is a village green not a village green?

A letter in last week's paper from a Mrs Louise Keeble of Letchworth refers to this. Mrs Keeble says that the village green application will protect the future of this field for social and leisure activities for all Baldock residents. Further, Mrs Keeble attempts to draw a parallel between the land in question here and the vastness of Norton Common on the edge of Letchworth.

Through your paper may I place matters in perspective. We are talking here about a small insignificant piece of unkempt land, 3/4 of a hectare, situated to the north west edge of Clothall/Common estate. To have the same designated as amenity land would benefit very few residents of Clothall Common let alone Baldock as a whole. Further, Mrs Keeble should note that Clothall Common is blessed with open greensward amenity land the like of which one would be hard pressed to equal.

On the question of the village green application, to make reference to this land as such is a misnomer in the extreme. It is an attempt to use the relevant legislation for the wrong purpose. Further, Mrs Keeble should realise that as a council tax payer it is her asset that NHDC have to protect in opposing the Village Green application.

Finally, and to repeat that which has been said many times before, this land has been earmarked for development since the inception of Clothall Common estate way back in the seventies and eighties.

Cllr MICHAEL WEEKS

Baldock Town