A VILLAGE meeting has been called over plans to hold a referendum on the future of a community wood.

As previously reported by The Press, there are plans to fell Diamond Jubilee Wood in Earswick as City of York Council wants to build a new lane at the A1237 Strensall Road ring road roundabout.

It’s part of £38 million of improvements and could go through Diamond Jubilee Wood in Earswick.

Now, on Monday next week (March 16) the parish council is holding a meeting or electors at the village hall at 7pm.

Top of the agenda is plans to hold a referendum, asking residents: “Do you agree that Earswick Parish Council should voluntarily sell the land known as Diamond Wood to City of York Council in order to facilitate dualling the A1237 Outer Ring Road and changes to the Strensall Road roundabout? Yes or No.”

Chairman, Cllr Derek Jones said: “All residents are invited to attend the meeting, but only those registered as local government electors will be entitled to speak or vote at the meeting.”

The wood was planted by children and families in 2012 to celebrate the Queen’s 60-year reign, and members of the parish council, which owns the land, have said previously the city authority could take out a compulsory purchase order, forcing them to give up the land.

City of York Council’s assistant director of transport, highways and environment, James Gilchrist, said previously: “We’re in the early stages of incorporating the dualling and roundabout upgrade scheme into one combined York Outer Ring Road scheme. We will be working with local communities to ensure the proposals work for residents, commuters and businesses.

“As part of this, we were recently invited to Earswick Parish Council, who own Jubilee Wood, along with MP, Julian Sturdy, to clarify a number of issues following very early initial designs. We’ll be incorporating the feedback from this meeting into detailed designs that will be put out for public consultation in summer as part of a series of engagement roadshows with local communities.”