RESIDENTS in villages across Conwy have applied for recreational spaces to be awarded village green status to protect them from development.
Areas in Dwygyfylchi and Pentrefelin, Glan Conwy, are in the process of becoming village greens. The applications include an area in Pentrefelin, which faces the houses of nearby residents, and a football field in Dwygyfylchi, which sits between the Groesffordd and Maes y Llan estates.
To qualify for village green status, an area of open land must have been used continually by a substantial number of the community for at least 20 years without let or hindrance, under the Commons Act 2006.
Applications to grant both sites such status have included representations from residents.
Dan Worsley, who has led campaigns to prevent development in Glan Conwy, said that fears of further houses being built in the village prompted him to try and protect the Pentrefelin site.
He said: “If the land gains Village Green status, it will be protected for all future generations and the people of Pentrefelin will celebrate.”
County councillor Gail Hall, who represents Capelulo ward - which covers Dwygyfylchi - said she had been prompted to protect the football field due to the amount of people who had made use of it as a recreation area, from children playing football and rounders to families holding picnics.
She said: “People have said they took their children there and now they’re taking they're grandchildren there.”
She added that Dwygyfylchi was short of communal green areas where children could play, given its location between the mountains of the Sychnant Pass and the A55 and the sea on the other side.
Cllr Hall added “It will be protected into perpetuity - which is a marvellous word!”