Redhill Green - A breathing space for all
Redhill Green is a treasured pocket park and green, accessible space in a busy, built up area of Hereford on the Ross Road. It is a breathing space for all. It is enjoyed by members of the local community, both adults and children, and provides a peaceful sanctuary in nature away from the busy A49 (Ross Road).
A current planning application seeks to lock the site, and convert the entire site to allotments leaving no accessible space for the wider local community.
Friends of Redhill Green are receiving legal support to help us oppose these plans. We are crowd funding to help cover our legal fees, with the aim to preserve an accessible green space at this site.
The site is a play area and accessible to all. It is enjoyed daily and is valued by both children and adults. The space has been an accessible green space and play area for decades. Local adults remember playing there as children. The park is situated next to The Child Development Centre in a busy, built up part of Hereford, it offers a place to play for local children and children attending appointments and groups at the centre.
The space is valued by members of the local community, children and adults, including staff at The Child Development Centre and Children's Community Nurses base, for physical and mental health and well-being.
Friends of Redhill Green are a community group; we are in favour of preserving a significant part of the site as a protected, accessible space for the wider local community. We aim to promote multi-functional use of the site, for example incorporating a community orchard, a natural play area and allotments.
We are seeking to protect a significant part of the site as a green, accessible space for the local community now and into the future.
Concerns have also been raised about the proposed traffic along the access track, which is a narrow track next to the entrance to The Child Development Centre, and this traffic entering and exiting the track from the A49.
Planning History
The site is owned and managed by a housing association, Connexus. In summer 2023 a local allotment group, Hereford Allotment and Leisure Gardeners, (HALGS), submitted a planning application for change of use from a Play Area to allotments. The application was opposed by members of the local community, Hereford City Council, Herefordshire Council's Open Spaces Planning Officer and National Highways. The planning application was then withdrawn.
Allotment plans withdrawn after criticism (Hereford Times)
Then in July 2024, despite these objections, the allotment group applied for a Certificate of Lawful Development for allotments at the site. The Certificate of Lawful Development was approved by Herefordshire Council. However, with agreement from the relevant parties (Connexus and HALGS), there is still potential to develop the site for multi-functional use, including accessible areas for the wider local community, rather than the entire site being developed as allotments and locked.
Throughout this process members of Friends of Redhill Green have sought to engage in negotiation with all relevant parties, including Connexus, HALGS, Hereford City Council (who provide funding for the allotment association), and local councillors. We have sought to propose preserving part of the site as an accessible green space for the wider local community. Despite great efforts to encourage positive communication and negotiation, there has not been willingness to negotiate on retaining any area as accessible green space. The current planning application is for the entire site become allotments and for the site to be locked at the boundary. The proposals leave no area of the site as accessible for the wider local community.
This is why we are now in receipt of legal support to oppose the current planning application, with the aim to protect a part of the site for the wider local community.
Thriving community orchard, alongside allotments, Upton Bishop, Herefordshire (on a site also owned by Connexus)
There are several other local examples of multi -functional, accessible and community focused use of green spaces in Herefordshire. For example the nearby Hunderton Community Garden, which is on a site also owned by Connexus, the garden is open to all. Also, in Upton Bishop on another Connexus owned site, there are fenced allotments, alongside a community orchard, open green space and play area. In Bishops Frome, on land also owned by another housing association, is a thriving community garden in the heart of the village.
Friends of Redhill Green have sought advice and support from The Open Spaces Society. Although one point of view is that the Lawful Development Certificate enabled the loss of public open space, another is that it doesn’t, because the transformation from public open space to allotments cannot be achieved without succeeding in the present application. We have instructed environmental and planning solicitors at Richard Buxton, together with Jack Parker and Ben du Feu, specialist planning barristers at Cornerstone Chambers.
The Importance of Play
Play is fundamental for children’s healthy development and well being; outdoor play is associated with particular benefits. These include access to fresh air, opportunities for social and physical development and improvements to overall health and mental well-being.
Play is so important that it has been recognised as a human right. The United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), declared that the right to play was a critical human right - Article 31 (leisure, play and culture) states;
"Every child has the right to relax, play and take part in a wide range of cultural and artistic activities."
The following information on declining outdoor play is from the Play England website:
A 2023 report [Trends in Children’s Street Play]…shows how children regularly playing out … has declined dramatically over the past 70+ years. Importantly it also demonstrates that regularly playing out is associated with better wellbeing during childhood, as well as better mental health into adulthood. The survey results show that children want to spend more time in the area where they live, and that the proportion of children saying this has increased significantly since the 2013 survey was conducted.
Overall, the report presents a dire picture of declining outdoor play close to home and a society where parents are made to worry about their children making noise outside in case it upsets the neighbours. Children want to spend more time in their local area but are frequently being given the message that they, and their play, are not welcome.
“Playgrounds aren’t just ‘nice-to have’ – they are essential for children’s wellbeing and healthy development”
(PlayNation Magazine,15th April 2025, in interview with Tom Hayes, MP)
Protection for Play Spaces
Following sustained lobbying by Play England and others, formal play spaces now have new protection under the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) as of December 2024. Play England Manifesto Win – NPPF Protection of Play Spaces
The amendment appears under Section 8: Promoting Healthy and Safe Communities, specifically in Paragraph 104 (formerly Paragraph 103 in the December 2023 NPPF). This revision underscores the Government’s growing recognition of the importance of protecting, enhancing and providing spaces to play.
The new NPPF wording specifically states that existing open space, sports and recreational buildings and land, including playing fields and formal play spaces, should not be built on unless certain strict criteria are met. This includes ensuring that the space is clearly surplus to requirements.
Please support this campaign if you can and help us spread the word.
Help to save this treasured pocket park for everyone, both now and into the future.
Thank you so much for your support.
Friends of Redhill Green
If we fundraise over our the cost of our legal fees, any extra funds raised will be donated directly to the Open Spaces Society who have been campaigning to protect open spaces including village greens, commons, and public paths in England and Wales since 1865.
Redhill Green, Ross Road, Hereford