Sir – Your front page concerning a green burial site at Grayshott will, if it comes off, bring to an end 10 years of dithering and mismanagement by the district council over the land in question.
The site which lies between Grayshott and Headley Down was formerly known as Bowleswood Farm. Because of unauthorised use of the land for car breaking amongst other things the council decided to compulsory-purchase the land around 1999, an action completed during 2002. The intention from the very beginning was to hand the long term management of the land to a local trust, to restore and manage as heathland, for public access and enjoyment.
I attended the first prospective trustees' meeting in February 1999 but the council first made their long-term land management intentions known as early as October 1997. At first progress was steady, seven trustees were appointed and the trust document was signed in June 2001. By November 2002 EHDC handed over a cheque of £5,000 to the prospective trustees and this has languished in a bank account, unused ever since.
The initial problems began to appear during 2002. The terms of the lease between the district council and prospective trustees became problematical with the district council also dragging their feet over land surveys and contaminated land issues. Progress stalled and then stopped completely during 2005 when the then Head of Legal Services left the district council.
Not until I wrote to the council's own Overview & Scrutiny Committee in 2007 did the process restart. By then, three of the prospective trustees had emigrated, died or resigned. Finally during the summer of 2008, the land was cleared of most of the waste and contamination, fencing put in place, public access points installed and seven trustees were in place to accept hand-over.
It had taken 10 years to get to a satisfactory hand-over point and then the district council changed its mind because it found itself with a budget shortfall and this site is now needed for revenue generation, not public enjoyment.
In some respects the change of heart by the district council is not a bad thing. The land will finally come into productive use and a green gap between Headley Down and Grayshott will be guaranteed for the foreseeable future. However, the council should reflect if their conduct over the past 10 years has been of a high professional nature and conducive for encouraging volunteers to become engaged with public projects.
Richard Clifford, Carlton Road, Headley Down