News / Stoke Lodge Playing Fields
Stoke Lodge campaigners filmed at council meeting
The chair of governors from Cotham School attended a committee meeting at City Hall but did not speak. Sandra Fryer instead sat opposite We Love Stoke Lodge representatives, with the person next to Fryer – not a governor – appearing to use her mobile phone to film the campaigners on the other side of the council chamber.
The meeting saw council bosses refuse to answer questions about why their lawyers tried and failed to fight both sides of a court case about the playing fields in Stoke Bishop.
The “utterly confounding process” is estimated to have cost Bristol council taxpayers several thousands of pounds in legal fees, according to campaigners.
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Two opposing departments at Bristol City Council are locked in a courtroom battle with Cotham School over the fence around the playing fields. The school has asked a High Court judge to overturn a decision made by councillors about whether the fence should be removed.
Lawyers working for the council will now “robustly defend” that decision, after initially backing the school. But the mystery over why that didn’t happen immediately sparked fury among campaigners, speaking at the public rights of way and greens committee on Monday.
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Read more: Cotham School admits carrying out covert CCTV surveillance of public
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David Mayer said: “I hold in absolute contempt the perpetrators and conspirators sneaking around in the shadows, plotting and planning to subvert the rule of law, in pursuit of some undisclosed and secret objective, all funded at the (council tax) payer’s expense. How can we expose their true motivation?”
The row over the 23-acre playing fields has rumbled on for many years. Cotham School previously used the fields for PE lessons and put the fence up for safety reasons, such as protecting pupils from dog poo, while We Love Stoke Lodge has campaigned to take the fence down, so the public can access the fields freely.
Cotham pupils currently use Golden Hill Sports Ground in Henleaze while the row continues.
Last summer, councillors on the public rights of way and greens committee voted to register the fields as a village green. This means they must be kept open to the public by law, and the fence would have to come down. The school is legally challenging this decision.
Then in January, it emerged that the council would not defend the decision taken by the committee in court. The council has conflicting roles in the row, as both the education authority which owns the land, and the commons registration authority.
Somebody decided the role of landowner took priority, but it’s unclear who took that decision and why. A judge ruled the council can only take a single position, rather than “suck and blow at the same time”.
Many fence panels around Stoke Lodge have been removed – photo: Martin Booth
Lib Dem councillor, Jos Clark, said: “I’ve sat here with my head in my hands, because I’m just finding this whole process completely and utterly confounding.
“Members of the public deserve to have an explanation for their questions. Their questions aren’t unreasonable.
“If people take the time to come here, they should actually get a response. The council is not being open about information that the public requires. That sets up a relationship of distrust, which is really unhealthy.
According to a written statement submitted to the meeting by We Love Stoke Lodge, the commons registration authority spent £2,400 making submissions to the court.
The council as landowner also spent £12,700 fighting to be able to argue against the committee’s decision, it claimed. And having lost the hearing, the council was ordered to pay £1,800 towards costs.
Several members of the public attempted to ask questions during the committee meeting, about why the council decided to back the school in the legal challenge. But Tim O’Gara, director of legal services, refused to answer and suggested they ask the outgoing mayor Marvin Rees and his cabinet.
O’Gara said: “I’m not in a position to give the members of the public a view as to the motivation of council officers, generally or specifically, with regards to the ongoing litigation in respect of the town and village green application for Stoke Lodge. Neither am I in a position to furnish you with a view of the executive.
“You may wish to direct your question to the executive. They have been party to this litigation as the landowner, and I think it would be appropriate to direct the question to them.
“We need to ensure that the council is able to conduct the litigation without the wider questioning. It almost feels like we’re conducting the litigation in here (the council chamber), and this is not a court of law.
“We have to be very careful about what we say when there is live litigation. I apologise to the committee if you haven’t got all the answers you want, and that is in part deliberate, because I won’t talk extensively about ongoing litigation in a public meeting.”
Stoke Lodge playing fields in Stoke Bishop are owned by Bristol City Council and leased to Cotham School as their offsite playing fields for the delivery of PE lessons – photo: Cotham School
Campaigners claim the decision to back the school instead of the committee was unlawful. The question over who took that decision came up again, in the growth and regeneration scrutiny commission on March 7.
Conservative councillor Mark Weston said: “The council tried to break the law. Who signed off on the attempt to break the law?”
John Smith, executive director for growth and regeneration, replied: “It’s the administration’s position, and that’s all I’m going to say. In terms of who it was, I don’t have anything further to say.”
The commons registration authority has changed its stance, from neutral in January to now defending the decision taken by the committee to register the playing fields as a village green.
The next key date in the court case is May 13, when there will be a case management hearing.
Separate to the litigation, the school is also applying for a judicial review. A stay had been in place, pausing the review proceedings, but this was lifted on April 9, according to O’Gara.
This means the council must file a summary of grounds for resisting the judicial review claim by the end of the month.
Bristol24/7 understands that Fryer is likely to be named as the new chair of Bristol Civic Society.
Main photo: Bristol24/7
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