By Cllr Mike Davies, Swindon Borough Councillor for Liden, Eldene and Park South and Parish Councillor for Eldene on Nythe, Eldene and Liden Parish Council
There is a current issue with green spaces across Eldene and Liden, so this is a summary of the situation to the best of my knowledge.
Many houses across the ward were built about 50 years ago, in the 1970s, with developers owning the land and building then selling the houses on it. It would appear however that they kept ownership of the green spaces between these houses, instead of the land being transferred to the Council, as residents assume. The Borough and Parish Councils have maintained these green spaces, looking after the trees and cutting the grass, again leading people to think they are Council owned, but they were still private.
In 2023 they started coming up for sale, starting with the large playing field on White Edge Moor in Liden, and generally when they have come up for sale planning permission has soon followed.
As an indication, we have had:
- White Edge Moor (WEM) playing field
- Land adjacent to 14 Matley Moor
- Land adjacent to 156 Ridge Nether Moor
- Land in Bevisland, including adjacent to 71 Bevisland
- Land adjacent to 121 Elmore
- Land adjacent to 53 Elmore
- Land adjacent to 18 Ecklington
These patches are sometimes protected by covenants, or the trees on them sometimes have Tree Protection Orders (TPOs).
Of these, the most prominent is WEM, where the new owners put up “no trespassing” signs. As a result of this, NEL Parish Council stopped cutting the grass, and it has been down to dedicated residents to keep the area nice, with SBC intervening for larger items, e.g. if the hedges go over the road. In order to protect this site from development, I put in a “Town and Village Green” application in October 2023, and this was passed in November 2025, protecting the land for public use.
The process can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/town-and-village-greens-how-to-register
A resident of Bevisland picked up this process and applied for the Green status for 3 patches of land, and this was passed at the same time as WEM, so it is possible to get this done if individuals want to go through the process. It basically needs residents evidence that the green spaces have been used for recreation by the public for over 20 years.
In terms of planning permission, no formal one has come through for WEM. 14 Matley Moor had one refused for a house, as did 71 Bevisland. At the time of writing 121 Elmore have planning permission going through, having cut down a lovely tree, unfortunately.
If anyone would like any more information on this, please contact me on mdavies5@swindon.gov.uk, and if you want to be kept updated please follow my Facebook page.
