'Publicly-spirited' landowner creates new village green for people of Thornhaugh

A “publicly-spirited” landowner has been commended by Peterborough City Council (PCC) for helping to establish a new village green in Thornhaugh.

Martin Witherington’s “rather unusual” application to grant the land just east of Leicester Road official village green status was approved at a PCC planning meeting this week.

This means that the 900 square metre plot of land will be protected from future development and that local people may “indulge in sports and pastimes over it on a permanent basis”.

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Peter Hiller (Conservatives) told Mr Witherington that his application was “publicly-spirited” and “absolutely commendable”.

“I was wondering if you’d care to come and live in my village,” he added.

Cllr Dennis Jones (Labour) agreed that the application represented “one of the joys of being on the planning committee”.

Mr Witherington told the councillors how he came to own the land and about his ambition to make it part of a walking route.

“It’s a rather unusual application and I had a bit of difficulty getting it off the ground to start with,” he said.

“This area once belonged to what they called the Thornhaugh Estate, which was lost by the Marquess of Exeter to Stanley Brotherhood in 1931.

“Having gained it, he then sold it off in an auction in the Star Inn in Peterborough.”

Some remnants of it fell into the ownership of a man related to a former resident of the area, Mr Witherington continued, who lived in Oxford.

“I got to know the guy and he agreed that he would give me this land and expand it into the land he owned to the east,” he said.

This will make up the new green, but it will also contribute to his longer-term plan to create a footpath between the cottages on Home Farm on Leicester Road with Thornhaugh Village to the benefit of walkers.

Mr Witterington told the committee how he persuaded the owner of nearby fields to include some of their land and apple trees from a "historic orchard" on the route.

Parish council documents suggest Mr Witherington has been working on creating this footpath in the village for several years.

His latest planning application to create the village green was approved unanimously.