In 2004, Wrexham Council produced a Draft Development Document for Nine Acre Field, which examined the technicalities surrounding the use of the field for housing. Whilst Wrexhams old Local Development Plan has effectively expired, the new one will shortly be ratified. The new LDP (or LDP2 as it was called for a while during the consultation process) contains a substantial number of references to the importance of open spaces in our residential neighbourhoods.
Please read the old Draft Development Document for Nine Acre Field, as many of the points raised are still valid today. You can read the document here.
There are two important guidelines when it comes to planning matters and open space / play provision.
- Fields In Trust "Guidance for Outdoor Sport and Play" - to which 75% of UK councils adhere to. You can read this guidance document here. This guidance is accepted by the Welsh Assembly Government as part of the open space toolkit.
- The official Welsh Assembly Government Planning Policy references TAN16 - or Technical Advice Note 16: Sport, Recreation and Open Space. This advice note can be read here.
At our first public meeting in August 2019, we were asked whether the field was subject to any restrictive covenants. From the copy of the Title Deeds we have, it would appear that when the land was first sold by Bernard Oppenheimer to Wrexham Council in 1919, the covenant only allowed for the building of houses with an "annual letting value of at least thirty five pounds each if single, and thirty pounds each if semi-detached".
In May 1938, Sir Robert Henry Cunliffe released the Borough of Wrexham from these restrictions, and added a clause that read "AND WHEREAS the Corporation [Wrexham Council] are desirous of utilising the said land for educational purposes including the erection of school buildings, playgrounds and playfields and the Releasor has agreed to to release the above mentioned restrictive covenants in the manner hereinafter appearing."
In June 2014, the Wrexham Boxing Club took over the former pavilion on a 10 year lease, and this is also documented on the deeds.
Based on advice we have received, it unfortunately appears that building a school on the field would comply with any covenant restrictions still in force today. A copy of the title deeds for Nine Acre Field is available here.