Local residents have set up a Friends of Windermere Fields group to protect this beautiful piece of open space against future, poorly thought out land grabs and to ensure its sustainable future. Windermere Fields is located next to Moseley Bog Nature Reserve and boundaried by Windermere Road to the north, Yardley Wood Road to the west and Wake Green Rd to the east.
The group was founded after it had been rumoured that Attock Cricket club were planning to develop the fields, to build a club house and extend their facilities with a new cricket pitch. Meanwhile, earlier this year residents had to stop council workers from mowing some of the long grass at the side of the field, which has historically left untouched due to nesting birds and other wildlife. At a public meeting held on the Fields in May 2017, Councillor Lisa Trickett promised there would be no buildings or loss of use to dog walkers or families and a full public consultation would take place, as part of any bid to use the fields.
On 27th June, after a long period of silence and with no public consultation having taken place, one of our Committee members, Izzy Knowles discovered that on 19th May Springfield ward councillors had signed off a Local Innovation Fund bid (council funds) for £20,000 to assist Attock Cricket club to cut hedges, cut overgrown grass, trim trees, hedges & shrubs, scarify, roll, aerate, seed and fertilise the field. Further funding had been obtained/was being considered to lay one astro turf and two grass squares at the site and for a pavilion and changing rooms. There were many inaccuracies and mis-information in the bid including that the fields were neglected and under-used and that the club was working with the Friends of Moseley Bog, neither of these statements were true.
The bid had also failed to take into account the ecological and architectural importance of the fields, the impact on wildlife or the huge impact on parking and noise nuisance to residents living in close proximity to the field. Finally there was no consideration of a covenant on the land, which is believed to have been bequeathed to the city for use for dog walking and recreation. Owing to swift intervention by residents and committee members of Moseley Forum the bid was pulled.
Whilst the group is in its infancy, a ‘Friends of Windermere Fields’ Facebook page has been set up at:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/268037717014707/
Here you can find out about planned meetings, post pictures and comment on how you use the fields and what you want to see for its future.
