Hempland Lane Wildlife Area Listed; Hagg Wood Put on Hold

A community wildlife area at Hempland Lane Allotments in Heworth has been listed as an Asset of Community Value. A decision on Hagg Wood, the community woodland on the edge of Dunnington, has been put off while the council takes further legal advice.

Both decisions were made at an executive member decision session on Tuesday 6 October (decision record, ref 7782). They come into force on 14 October unless they are called in. The call-in deadline is 13 October.

The Hagg Wood deferral goes against the officers’ advice. Their report recommended rejecting the wood outright, because it is owned by the Church of England (officers’ report).

What listing means

Listing gives a community group a chance to bid if the owner decides to sell. The officers’ report sets out how it works:

• If a listed asset is to be sold freehold, or leased for 25 years or more, with vacant possession, the owner must tell the council.
• A community group then has six weeks to say it is interested.
• If it does, the group gets six months, counted from the owner’s notice, to put a bid together.
• After that the owner can sell to whoever it chooses. There is no guarantee the community bid wins.

A listing lasts five years. The owner can ask for a review within eight weeks of the decision.

Hempland Lane: a former paddock turned wildlife area

The nomination came from Hempland Lane Allotments Association. Volunteers created the wildlife area in 2000, with the council’s approval, on what the association describes as a former derelict paddock.

According to the association, the site has:

• a community woodland of native deciduous trees to the north
• two seasonal ponds that help drain the surrounding land
• a central clearing
• an open area of grasses and wildflowers to the south
• memorial benches for lost loved ones

The association says the area is a habitat for bats, owls and willow warblers, and that one pond was recently redesigned by Froglife for frogs and newts. The full nomination is Annex 1 to the report.

The council owns the freehold. The leaseholder, the charity York Allotments, backed the nomination.

Hagg Wood: why the officers said no

Dunnington Parish Council nominated Hagg Wood in July. Its nomination traces the wood back to the Domesday Book in 1086 (nomination form, Annex 3). According to the nomination:

• the Church Commissioners for England bought the freehold in 1936
• the Forestry Commission took a 999-year lease in 1952
• the wood was heavily felled during the Second World War and replanted in the 1950s
• it became a community woodland in 2003, under an agreement with the Friends of Hagg Wood that suspended shooting rights

The parish council says residents use the wood for walking, running, bird watching, dog walking and horse riding. Schools and community groups use it for nature study and volunteering.

The officers accepted that the wood has “a community focus”. Their objection was legal. The rules exempt Church of England land from the moratorium on a sale. So, the report says, listing Hagg Wood “would afford no protection”. The Church also has its own rules on selling property, under the Church Property Measure 2018 and the Charities Act 2011.

The freeholder objected too. Its agents, Fisher German, said the public’s use of the wood is secondary to its main use as managed forestry. They also said no signed copy of the 2003 agreement exists, only an unsigned draft. Three further objection emails were received.

The executive member did not reject the nomination. Instead the decision was “deferred until further legal investigation can be completed”. No date has been given for it to come back.

What it means for you

• Hempland Lane: nothing changes day to day. The listing matters only if the land is ever offered for sale.
• Hagg Wood: the paths are still open, and nothing in the report suggests a sale. The question is only whether the wood can go on the council’s list.
• Want to nominate somewhere? Parish councils, charities and community groups with a local connection can nominate land or buildings. The council’s Assets of Community Value page has the form. Councils have eight weeks to decide.

The council’s current list of listed assets is Annex 7 to the report. For more from the council and planning system, see our York planning news page.