FRODSHAM Town Council is prepared to serve an injunction to stop any construction work taking place on Overton Hill – where planning consent for 12 houses has been granted following an appeal.
Members agreed to the proposal, put forward by Cllr Frank Pennington, after hearing detailed reports which indicated that part of the development would involve war memorial land given to the people of Frodsham which is said to be subject to a covenant forbidding any building.
A special meeting involving council clerk Hazel Catt, chairman Cllr Judith Critchley and a councillor from each ward is to be held which will decide what action should be taken.
But in the event of any building work starting, the council will serve an injunction to halt it.
The monthly meeting of the council heard from Tracy Footitt, a shareholder of Mersey View Pleasure Grounds Ltd, the company which has won planning permission for 12 houses on Overton Hill and the demolition of the former Mersey View nightclub, now known as the Overton Suite.
She said she had been unaware of the proposals for the land and did not agree with them.
“I am here for no motive other than to ensure that the land in question be an open space for the use and enjoyment of the people forever, as stated in the covenant,” she said.
During her research, she had discovered that as new drawings had been made over the years, boundaries were no longer accurate. Some years ago, the council had agreed to an exchange of land in the area and it appeared that half the war memorial land had been lost.
The meeting was told extensive research into the history of the matter had been carried out by Cllr Pennington and Cllr Mark Nield.
Cllr Nield said it was clear, from the deeds, that today’s boundaries were not where they had been in 1923/24.
The memorial field was given to the people of Frodsham – not the council – as a memorial to people killed in World War 1. Covenants were put in place to ensure the land would remain protected for the people of Frodsham forever.
A land exchange took place between the council and Mersey View Pleasure Grounds Ltd in 2003 which might not have been legal as the land was not the council’s to exchange. But even if it was legal, both parties signed agreements to uphold the covenants. In any case, the covenant remained in place whoever owned the land.
Cllr Nield said the council in 2003 acted in good faith, never for once believing the land they transferred would ever be built on.
If the development took place there was a possibility the War Memorial itself, on top of the hill, would become land-locked or that disabled access would be lost. The housing itself would have memorial land to its east and west with the only possible access from Bellmonte Road, which could mean the loss of the memorial railings.
Cllr Pennington said the council – including himself – had made a mistake in 2003 and it was now time to try and put matters right.
Cllr Frank Pennington… a mistake was made
