A controversial plan to turn an area of public green space in Hereford into allotments has been given the go-ahead.

Hereford Allotments and Leisure Gardeners (HALGS) had sought confirmation, now granted, that it could use the half-acre plot off Ross Road the A49 in the south of the city, between the Ross Road Health Centre and the grounds of Our Lady's Catholic Primary School.

Owned by housing provider Connexus, it was previously used as a children’s play area, but play equipment has been removed leaving only a bench amid the rough grassland.

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The group had argued that is use as allotments was in effect a continuation of its previous use as farmland, meaning planning permission was not required.

This convinced council planning officer Tracey Meachen, who confirmed that “the reversion of the land to an agricultural use would not amount to ‘development’ and no planning permission is required”.

No comments were accepted on the application for a certificate of lawfulness.

HALGS previously withdrew its effort to secure its use of the site via a conventional planning application, which drew opposition from Hereford City Council and from Herefordshire Council’s own open space planning officer Ruth Jackson.

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Ms Jackson said then that she assumed that under the proposal, what had been a “pocket park within a busy built-up part of Hereford” would no longer be freely accessible to the public.

Rather, the move would “limit the access of an open space within walking distance of residential homes, to provide access to only those who have an allotment, up to 10 families potentially”.

Nor had HALGS provided evidence that the local community would welcome the proposal, she said.

HALGS has been approached for comment.