§ Air Commodore A. V. HarveyI desire to present a Petition on behalf of 6,731 residents and 117 former residents of Congleton concerning Priesty Fields, situated in the Borough, which will be lost to the town as a beauty spot and place of retreat if the appeal against the Borough Council's refusal to allow sand quarrying there is successful.
The appeal, which was the subject of an inquiry by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government on 30th–31st January, 1952, concerns land at the approach, but much of the remainder of the fields has been purchased by other sand quarrying owners who would no doubt similarly develop, with the result that the whole would be laid waste.
This area, lying almost in the town's centre, has been recommended by the planning authority for zoning as an open space.
The Petition concludes:
Your Petitioners pray that Priesty Fields which, since earliest history, have been used as a playground and place of retreat for young and old, shall not be lost to the town and that a cherished beauty spot shall not be 2074 desecrated. Serious danger to children would ensue if sand lorries used the narrow winding approach to the fields.And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray.
§ Petition to lie on the Table.