A campaign to have a Waunfawr field given Village Green status to protect it for the community from development has been blocked by Ceredigion County Council after members made a u-turn to deny the bid , putting an end to a long-running three year row.

Councillors in October last year unanimously rejected advice from a solicitor that the land at Erw Goch Field was being held for educational purposes which prevented it from being given village green status.

An application for the field to become a village green to save the open space for the community was launched by the Friends of Erw Goch in 2021, sparked by a joint Wales & West Housing and Ceredigion County Council development of more than 70 homes on the land being submitted.

Those plans remain live and the application prompted Ceredigion County Council, which owns the land, to instruct solicitors to advise on a “statutory incompatibility” defence to block the Village Green bid, saying the land was bought to be used for educational purposes.

Ceredigion council argues that the land is still held for educational purposes despite its plans to use it for homes because the land was bought by the-then Cardiganshire County Council in June 1965 as a proposed site for a new Ardwyn Grammar School.

The council’s stance was agreed by the solicitor who was instructed to write the report, Katherine Barnes, who found that “even though there are no formal decisions of Cardigan County Council that the land that is the subject of the 1965 conveyance was acquired or appropriated for educational purposes, the acquisition of this land for educational purposes is the obvious inference from the available evidence.”

The solicitor added that “it does not matter whether the Application Land was actually used for educational purposes.”

Councillors, however, emphatically rejected the solicitor’s argument during the October meeting and unanimously voted against the recommendation.

The council said at the time that it will “go away and seek further advice” with warnings of a lengthy and expensive public inquiry or seeking a second legal opinion the only options left.

At a full council meeting on Thursday, 19 September councillors were asked to vote on two recommendations for the future of the village green application.

Council officers ruled out options including a public inquiry as it would come with “significant cost and delay.”

A public inquiry, if one was held, would cost around £100,000, the meeting heard.

Councillors instead were asked to vote on one of two options: outright refusal of the application by adopting the recommendation of the solicitor at the second time of asking – the same recommendation that was flatly rejected back in October - or obtain a second opinion from a more senior barrister.

Such a second opinion would cost £5,000 to £10,000, a report said, with the authority having already shelled out tens of thousands of pounds to block the bid.

The meeting heard that the two options were the only ‘lawful’ decisions the council could make.

Councillors - u-turning on their decision from six months ago - backed the solicitor’s advice, and the village green application was blocked.

Cllr Alun Williams told the meeting that as the authority deciding the application, and as an objector as a landowner, separate teams within the council, with separate legal representation, are dealing with each aspect of the application to avoid any conflict of interest.

“It’s important to remember here we are dealing with legalities, not opinions,” Cllr Williams said.

“Local people have been trying to stop development of the field by using the village green status, but that route is not supported by law.”

Elizabeth Evans said that law is “open to opinion and open to challenge” and questioned whether the land was really bought for educational purposes.

Katherine Barnes, who joined the meeting to answer members’ questions, responded that no “express” decision had been made by the council at the time to acquire the land for educational purposes but that her decision had been “inferred from the evidence.”

“There wasn’t any evidence to suggest the land was being acquired for anything other than educational purposes,” she said.

She added that the legal use of the land remains as educational purposes whatever the use of the land later becomes.

Katherine Barnes said that statutory incompatibility is a “knock-out blow” and that if that succeeds then the rest is irrelevant and said she was “confident” in the advice she has given councillors.

The meeting heard that if any planning application was approved on the land, the land would have to be “re-appropriated” by the council, with its use changed from the current educational purposes for any scheme to go ahead.

Cllr Gareth Lloyd asked whether a fresh village green application can be put forward at the stage the land’s legal use is changed.

Cllr Gareth Davies said: “If you go by Welsh Government guidelines, this should have been handled by someone else by public inquiry.

“This land has not been held for educational purposes. It hasn’t been for over 20 years.

“The people of Waunfawr have been using it for recreational purposes for all those years without challenge.”

Chief Executive Eifion Evans told councillors “this decision is yours” as to whether the land can have village green status but said that “you have been given clear legal advice” that is does not.

Cllr Maldwyn Lewis said the issue was “black and white” and “with respect” to objectors, “it is not possible to register this land as a village green.”

Cllr Catrin MS Davies said “there has got to be some kind of compromise.”

“It’s a huge field, surely we can have some piece of land for the residents of Waunfawr,” she said.

Carl Worrall said that “whatever we decide, we must look after the people of Waunfawr.”

Councillors voted 18 in favour of rejecting the village green application, eight against and five abstentions.