VILLAGERS are today launching a last-minute bid to block a massive housing scheme near York by trying to register part of the site as a village green.

Fulford residents have formed the Friends of Germany Beck (FBG) in the hope of scuppering Persimmon Homes' proposals to build about 700 homes in the Green Belt.

But the application to City of York Council could also delay or even block plans to raise the A19 above flooding levels, at the point where floods caused disruption for thousands of motorists only last week.

A similar village green application by the Friends of Osbaldwick Meadows, for land at Osbaldwick where the Joseph Rowntree Foundation hopes to build the 540-home model village Derwenthorpe, was submitted in late 2006 and is due to go to a public inquiry next month.

Both the Derwenthorpe and Germany Beck schemes have previously been given the go-ahead by the Government following public inquiries in 2006.

Alan Smith, a member of FGB, said it was seeking to register land to the east of Fordlands Road where the main access road into the development was set to be built.

He said: "If the application for village green registration were to be successful, it would throw doubt on the housing scheme as no alternative access road location has been identified."

He said the friends had conducted an initial survey of local residents to establish the history and use of the site for recreation had met with an "overwhelmingly positive response."

He said: "A significant proportion of local households indicated they use or had used the Germany Beck meadow site for recreation.

"Therefore, after carefully checking through the details volunteered by residents, we feel justified in submitting this application today.

"This recreational land, close to where people live, is a valuable open space and needs to be preserved. Fulford is sorely lacking in open space and to lose such an important and accessible green area is wrong and fails to take into account the welfare and quality of life of residents."

Another member of FGB, Mary Urmston, said the work to raise the A19 and prevent the road being flooded, which would itself cause huge disruption for motorists, should not be dependent on Germany Beck going ahead.

A council spokeswoman said the authority had been advised that the green application would be submitted today.

"As the registration authority we will process this in due course," she said. "Until we see the application, we cannot really comment."

A spokeswoman for Persimmon Homes Yorkshire said: "We aredissapointed to hear that residents are submitting the village green application. Should we receive formal notification we will respond accordingly."


Residents' land rights

CAMPAIGNERS have been pressing for the past 13 months for land at Osbaldwick to be registered as a village green to block the proposed Derwenthorpe housing scheme.

The campaigners revealed in 2006 how Defra guidance stated that land could be registered as a green if it had been used by local people for recreation "as of right" for at least 20 years.

The guidance also said village greens were protected by Enclosure and Commons Acts "against injury or damage and interruption to their use or enjoyment as a place for exercise and recreation."

To establish recreational use of the site, the campaigners said they had obtained statements from dozens of people across the Osbaldwick, Tang Hall and Meadlands area, confirming they had used it over many years for activities such as dog-walking.