Colehill walkers triumphant after public enquiry.

The land between the Vineries and Cutlers Place which has been fenced off by owners Capital Developments (Southern) Ltd to stop residents walking on it, will now be reopened after a government inspector agreed walkers should be permitted access to the land. The inspector also confirmed the order to modify the footpath map in support of the judgement. Fantastic news!

Warning – Rant imminent, those of a nervous disposition please look away.

So after a long battle walkers can once again enjoy wandering through another green area near Colehill. This is really good news because one thing I hate is green land being lost to development. A tiny bit of land comes up on the market and the next thing you know some builder is cramming as many houses onto the plot as he can fit in, and with that out local green spaces get eaten up, almost without being noticed.

What gets me about this kind of development is that if you have a good look around any town in the country you’ll find at least one abandoned and empty building. Why don’t the government, or the local council for that matter, compulsory buy these buildings and have them turned into flats? With land at a premium surely this is the best way to please everyone and keep our much-needed green spaces?

Take the old Conservative Club in Wimborne for instance. The building has plans to turn it into a Wetherspoons. The building has been empty for ages, and it could easily have been turned into luxury flats…but alas we are now due another pub in town instead. We don’t need more pubs, we need more affordable places to live.