By Elgam Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter
Champagne and soup could be consumed by villagers celebrating an unusual victory.
A patch of land within the estate of Hillcrest at Aberhafesp, near Newtown, has officially been recognised as a village green.
In October, Powys County Councillors at a special meeting of the planning committee heard the arguments for and against the application.
And after deliberations found that the patch of land, which is an area of 0.32acres, had passed the necessary tests.
Hillcrest resident Richard Amy, who made the application and argued in favour of it at the special meeting of the planning committee, said: “I received the official letter and I’m delighted if a bit surprised.
“I’ve already had a chat with the neighbours and when the weather celebrates we might have an evening of champagne and soup on the green. We did this for the children really.
“If the green was built upon, then they would have nowhere to play and a main road is nearby.”
Planning committee chairman, Cllr Karl Lewis, said: “The basis that the committee considered was that the land in question satisfies all the statutory requirements for registration as a village green.
“The application is to register the whole of the parcel of land at Hillcrest be accepted and the land be registered as a new village green.”
Powys County Councillor for Rhiwcynon which includes Aberhafesp, Heulwen Hulme, said: “Residents are delighted and can now move forward. It has taken a long time to get to this result and I admire Richard Amy and the residents of Hill Crest for continuing to pursue it to this outcome.”
To succeed the application needed to show that the land has been used “as of right” by Hillcrest residents and that it has been used for 20 years for lawful sports and pastimes.
The report stated: “The Cohesiveness of the area has been demonstrated. On the balance of the probabilities, there was a continuous pattern of use by children of the land over the relevant 20 year period.
The range of activities identified by the applicant and witnesses constituted lawful sports and pastimes.
The evidence demonstrated that use was made openly, without force, without secrecy and without permission.
Although usage levels over the 20 year period changed, the overall usage was by a significant number of inhabitants.