New owners wanted a 6-ft fence here

Almost half of the Open Space in Fareham is not owned by the Council, Lib Dems have discovered.
But policies are in place which should protect most of it from development – if residents are vigilant.
Jim Forrest asked a series of questions at the Council following the recent controversy over attempts to fence off open space at Springfield Way. (See our earlier story: Fence round open space rejected)
Jim was told that 140 out of 340 sites designated as open space are not Council property, That amounts to 47.9% of the total Open Space in the Borough.
But the Council’s Core Strategy restricts the loss of existing open space to development unless it can be shown that the piece of open space is of poor quality, under-used, or a better quality replacement site is provided which is equivalent in accessibility and size. Later national guidelines offer similar criteria.
We’ll continue to watch for planning applications relating to Open Space and notify residents as soon as they appear.
Then it’s up to residents to put their comments to defend the land’s continued public. use.
The full text of Jim’s questions and the Council’s reply can be seen in Item 12 of these Council minutes