Germany Beck campaigners to gather

5:27pm Friday 16th May 2008

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CAMPAIGNERS are holding a residents' meeting next week to discuss their bid to create a village green where developers want to build an access road into a major York housing development.

People from across the Fulford parish are being invited to come along and hear the latest developments in the Friends Of Germany Beck's application.

They will also be told how they can best assist the campaign group, which is preparing for a public inquiry due to be held in October.

Persimmon Homes' plans to build about 700 homes in the Green Belt at Germany Beck, Fulford, were approved by the Government after a public inquiry in 2006.

But if the village green proposals for land to the east of Fordlands Road are approved, the proposed major access route into the site would be blocked, as the area would be protected for future leisure and recreational use.

However, the developers might seek to find alternative ways to get in to the housing site, which will not itself become a green.

A similar application by the Friends Of Osbaldwick Meadows, intended to create a village green at Osbaldwick in a bid to block the 540-home Derwenthorpe scheme, was turned down earlier this year after a public inquiry.

Persimmon Homes Yorkshire has said it took all comments regarding the Germany Beck development extremely seriously and recognised the concerns local residents had raised. Coun Keith Aspden, who represents Fulford, told The Press today the residents' meeting would be held at 7.30pm on Monday at the Fulford Social Hall in School Lane.

He said about 1,300 leaflets had gone out informing people of the event, which would give residents an update about the latest situation regarding the application.

Coun Aspden said he was supporting the Friends, hoping that the area could be protected.