Twelve years ago, Barry McCormack played a pivotal role in getting two of his local green spaces in Tunbridge Wells, Kent protected forever with Fields in Trust. Julian Hewitt Memorial Fields and Farmcombe Road Open Space both became legally protected in perpetuity in 2014.
Over a decade later, Barry is working with members of his local community to try to get a third space protected.
“Julian Hewitt Memorial Fields and Farmcombe Road Open Space are the heartbeat of the neighbourhood,” says Barry. “They are free accessible spaces for people to come together and socialise and for families to enjoy safely.
“Farmcombe Road Open Space is a mix of woodland, meadow and grassland, supporting local wildlife while offering a valued place for recreation, particularly for nearby residents and dog walkers. Because the site is fully enclosed, it also provides a safe, practical setting for training young dogs.
“Just as importantly, it is an oasis amid surrounding housing, where people can step away from the noise and enjoy a sense of calm and tranquillity,” adds Barry. “It has a lovely carpet of bluebells in the forested area.
“The Julian Hewitt Memorial Fields are named in honour of a local resident who did a great deal for the community many years ago,” Barry explains. “The space includes children’s swings and an area for football, and it is used year-round for a wide range of informal outdoor play and games.
“Together, the two green spaces give children somewhere to play away from traffic and create a shared outdoor hub for the neighbourhood. Residents also use them for annual community events and fairs, helping to strengthen local connections.”
Barry wanted to protect these spaces as he knew they might be targets for developers.
“Before they were protected, the spaces were at risk of being lost to housing development,” explains Barry. “Developers were snapping up every bit of space to build more houses on. Councils were given targets to meet housing needs, and I wanted to save the land for future generations. Our children should not just inherit a sterile landscape. It’s important to keep the aesthetic content of the town alive.
“I believe the legacy of the council should also be measured in the creation of protected parks and not just the land that was sold off to meet housing needs.”
Keen to ensure these local green spaces would never be sold off to development, Barry drew on skills and experience from his career managing large-scale projects to take on the protection process.
“Matters don’t progress on their own so it’s important to appoint a project manager,” says Barry. “Although I don't think you have to be qualified in any way to do it.
“After a meeting with the residents’ committee who were fully behind the idea, I took advice from Fields in Trust, who I’d read about in the newspaper. I then set up a meeting with the Head of Parks for the area. He was supportive of the plan and advised me to gain the support of local councillors to formalise it. I then got my local councillor’s support and the full support of the residents’ committee. I think it’s all about good communication.
“From then on, it was a matter of getting the plan to protect the spaces approved at a council meeting. This was the difficult part as not all areas of the council were supportive as the land would no longer be available to build houses on. In the end, by using the support of my local councillors, we won the day and got the approval.
“Anyone who is doing a similar project should recognise the importance of this step,” says Barry. “You need the councillors to approve the decision to protect the land as you are not allowed to participate in council meetings. After that it was a case of getting the council’s lawyers to sign up to the agreement with Fields in Trust.
“The whole process took me about two years. However, the current meadow and park I am trying to protect is moving much faster.
“It's a great achievement to know that the spaces are protected in perpetuity, which means forever,” adds Barry, who was featured in a local newspaper article at the time on Kent’s top 10 most amazing people.
Barry is now trying to protect St John’s Recreation Ground and Meadows in Kent. Following his success in protecting the spaces in 2014, local residents approached him asking for advice on how to protect more spaces.
“We only started a few months ago but already we have an approval in principle from the council,” says Barry. “We formed a small project team and prepared a plan to get council backing. We have the unanimous backing of our residents’ committee and a good councillor who manages to get things turned around quickly. It should now be a matter of getting both parties to agree the wording and sign.
“In the space, you often see children and families playing, discovering nature, residents exercising, and families finding a quiet escape from urban noise,” notes Barry. “It is our outdoor community centre, used daily for walking, community picnics, local fetes and school nature studies.
“Ecologically, it is a thriving sanctuary. The meadow supports an abundance of native pollinators, including rare bumblebee species and butterflies like the common blue. Birds like goldfinches and buzzards feed here, and the long grasses provide vital shelter for small mammals.
“Paving over this land would mean wiping out a critical urban biodiversity hotspot.”
While Barry acknowledges the pressures put upon councils to meet housing targets, he is raising awareness of the fact that new housing should not come at the expense of the very spaces that make our towns and cities liveable.
“Green spaces act as carbon sinks absorbing greenhouse gas emissions. They also help with flooding issues by absorbing and reducing water run-off,” Barry says.
“We need a balance of housing and green space to preserve a good quality of life.”
Find out more about how you can take action and protect your local green space.
