'Save our green space' gets thousands of views ahead of crunch planning meeting
Residents in Plymouth are trying to protect what they call their village green
Thousands of people have now watched a video from a community in Plymouth trying to save their green space - ahead of this afternoon's planning meeting.
The video, by residents campaigning to save Wilmot Gardens Community Green from being bulldozed over for housing, has racked up more than 14,000 views on TikTok.
In the video residents show the long way children would have to walk to their next playable green space - if controversial plans to turn their open space into housing get the green light by councillors later.
Matt Fleming, a local resident, said: "The planning committee will re-determine a planning application to build five dwellings on the green space, which means losing part of an ancient hedgerow, mature trees and almost all of the open space.
"Planning permission was originally granted in October 2024, but was quashed by the High Court following a legal challenge by campaigners."
On the video, Matt Fleming, a local resident, can be seen with two children from the neighbourhood as they have to cross a busy road and navigate a ‘Pothole Alley’ with a pushchair.
He said: "According to the Plymouth and Southwest Joint Local Plan, which planning officers use to assess planning applications, residents should not be more than 400m away from a playable open space.
“If Wilmot Gardens is lost, we will have to walk 800m to the next playable open space.”
"This is too far for residents with reduced mobility. The council says the need to build affordable housing trumps the amenity value of this small patch of land (less than 0.2 ha)."
Mr Fleming added : “We understand the need to build more homes in Plymouth, but building here will only house, at most, 10 people, while hundreds of people lose a space to walk, breathe, play with their dog. An ancient hedgerow and mature trees will be lost.”
The planning application can be found here
Today's meeting agenda can be found here
The online video can be found here