RESIDENTS of Winsley have been left stunned and shocked after their village playing field was put up for sale by public auction.

The field where countless Winsley children have played football since the 1970s is listed for sale in a two-day online auction beginning today.

It is listed as lot number 193 in the Barnard Marcus catalogue for a sale in London with a price guide of £7,500.

Local Wiltshire and Winsley parish councillor Johnny Kidney said the village had been left “shocked” by the listing.

The playing field off Northfield is part of the Tyning Road estate in Winsley, which was built in the late 1960s. The land is being sold by Legacy Land Holdings Ltd of Bexhill on Sea in East Sussex.

For generations children have used it as a football pitch. The parish council installed a goalpost in the 1970s which was used for decades.

In 2020, following a request from local school children, the parish council replaced the 1970s goalpost with new posts and nets.

Cllr Kidney said: “The parish council is determined to protect this playing field. It is an important recreation area for the village.

“The sudden listing of the land for auction by its owners has come as shock to everyone in the community, particularly at a time when we have needed our recreational green spaces more than ever.

“Since the sudden listing of the land for sale, Winsley Parish Council and I have been working flat out, with the support of our fantastic community, to do everything we can to secure this precious green space for future generations of Winsley's children.”

Cllr Kidney added: “The Tyning Road area of Winsley has a high concentration of families and children, and Northfield is the only publicly accessible green space within estate where children can play ball games.

“Generations of Winsley's children have played on the playing field since the early 1970s. It is a hugely important open space for the community.

“The field remained in the ownership of the builders of the estate but has been used by the community and maintained by the Parish Council for nearly 50 years.

“The land has very strong planning protections, including being located within the West Wiltshire Green Belt, being outside the settlement boundary of the village, and being within a Special Landscape Area.

“This would make it extremely difficult for anyone to develop the land, particularly with the clearly demonstrable continuous use of the land by generations of Winsley's children over a period of 50 years.

“In addition to these robust protections over the land, we have also submitted a Village Green application, backed up by a very compelling dossier of evidence demonstrating beyond any doubt that the land has been used continuously by the community for play and recreation since the early 1970s.

“A huge number of residents have come forward to make it clear how important this land is to them and their families and what it has meant to the community for generations.

“In addition to seeking to protect the land for the community through the Village Green application, the Parish Council has also nominated the playing field as an Asset of Community Value.

“The vendors and auctioneers have been made aware of the numerous protections on the site and the furthers that have been taken to ensure its continued use for the community.

“We are very hopeful that the land can be secured for the community, and if does proceed to auction on Wednesday, the parish council has allocated funds to try to buy it, with the fantastic support of the community.

“Any other potential bidders should be in no doubt as to the numerous protections this land enjoys, and the further protections that we are seeking to place on it, to ensure that it can only ever be used as a green open space for the community of Winsley to play and exercise.”

Legacy Land Holdings Ltd is a privately owned property development company. It is believed the company acquired the land many years ago.

The auction catalogue says the freehold of the 1,877 square metre field is close to a residential area and “may offer potential” for alternative uses subject to planning permission and consents. It is close to railway stations at Freshford and Avoncliff and handy for Bath, while there is a village shop in Winsley.

The catalogue adds: “It is important that prospective purchasers ensure they have inspected the site and rely upon their own enquiries, assessments and due diligence with regards to its current and potential uses.”