Reader says area has potential for wider use.

Contrary to Alan Kimbell’s grumblings in last week’s Herald, Honiton Town Council is entirely right to question the validity of granting village green status to Honiton Bottom Road. The area of open space has the potential for a much wider community use, and the attempts by the campaigners to ring-fence it for themselves are completely unjustified.

His suggestion that alternative allotment sites can be found simply by looking for them is just absurd. We have been waiting years for allotments with very little prospect of getting any, and it is only an extraordinary event that has made alternative land available.

However, even if the proposal for allotments at the alternative site is successful, it will provide nowhere near enough plots to satisfy the huge demand, and the area at Honiton Bottom Road will still be needed.

It is difficult to understand why the application for village green status was made. It can’t be to thwart development of the site, as having allotments on it will have that effect. It can’t be its loss as an area for dog-walkers, as the proposal is for allotments on only one third of the site, with two thirds being maintained under its current use.

It seems to me that, despite their claims to the contrary, the application for village green status was made simply because the campaigners don’t want allotments anywhere near Marker Way.

Martyn Harris

Linhay Close

Honiton