As safe as houses!
EPPING'S Swaines Green has been saved from the developers' bulldozers after its sale to a loose consortium dedicated to its preservation was finally completed.
The Friends of Swaines Green, Epping Town Council and the Corporation of London heard on Monday their joint £145,000 bid to buy the land from a private owner had been successful.
The Friends and town council managed to find £60,000 between them and the corporation gave £85,000. The sale is the end of almost a year of negotiations between the three to offer a high enough total to beat bids from potential developers.
It also concludes almost eight years of work by the council and Friends investigating how the green could become public land.
Friends chairwoman and former town mayor Audrey Wheeler said yesterday (Wednesday, 22 June) (Wednesday): "We are absolutely delighted because it's been a long haul. It means that it will never be built on and is there for perpetuity."
An emergency appeal was set up by the Friends a year ago to buy Swaines Green when the land was put on the market. More than £20,000 was collected in private donations during that time and Mrs Wheeler thanked the people of Epping.
Jon Whitehouse (Liberal Democrat), the council's representative on the Friends, said: "I'm both relieved and delighted. For a long time we've wanted to have the piece of land for the people of Epping."
Town clerk Bob Whittome, who worked on the offer, added: "We are delighted, as a council, that the work that's been going on for the last seven or eight years with The Friends of Swaines Green has finally come to fruition."
The site will be maintained by the Friends, with the council owning three acres, including Lovelock Field, and the Corporation of London possessing the remaining 15 acres.
Christine Cohen, chairwoman of the corporation's Epping Forest and commons committee, said: "It is vital that these parcels of land, which play such an important role in the local community, are preserved for future generations to enjoy and are not lost to development."