‘Hands off Vauxhall Fields” was the loud-and-clear message from a public meeting held in response to proposals for Monmouth Town Council to take over their ownership from the county council.

The Friends of Vauxhall Fields meeting heard that there are discussions to transfer ownership of the fields to the town council by way of a community asset transfer.

The conversations are being led by Town and County Councillor Mat Feakins who has distributed a sketch map as a “conversation starting point”, suggesting the land could be used for nature trails, allotments, a penned dog-walking area, a heritage orchard and community garden, film shows and seasonal events.

The two dozen or so people at the meeting in the Punch House agreed that “Monmouthshire County Council have demonstrated responsible stewardship of the Vauxhall Fields and the current open ‘unimproved’ grassland is highly valued by all users.

‘‘Any potential transfer of ownership from the county council needs extensive public consultation to ensure that the current amenity value of the fields is safeguarded.”

The Friends of Vauxhall Fields was started nearly ten years ago to take an interest in the fields, which are managed by the county council.

The informal group, chaired by Bob Handley, has worked with the Army to try to reduce vehicle traffic across the fields as a bypass (before the Inglis bridge was closed) and to discourage dog fouling.

The Friends are providing two benches (supported by a £500 grant from the Town Council), and has organised tree planting in co-operation with Transition Monmouth, Monmouth Green Spaces, Rotary Monmouth and other groups.

Demand for allotments in Monmouth (44 people were on the waiting list last summer) is central to Cllr Feakins’s proposals for Vauxhall where, he told the council a year ago, there was room for up to a 100 allotments.

However the idea of using Vauxhall was questioned at last Thursday’s meeting on a number of grounds, such as that the existing allotments on the village green (Chippenham Mead) would provide more plots if better managed; Wyesham residents needed allotments nearer home; and it would increase vehicle traffic on the lane from Rockfield Road to the detriment of other users.

The town council’s committees on the allotments and the asset-transfer of Vauxhall are both “task and finish groups” and not open to the public.

The council promises a “full consultation” before it takes any decisions about Vauxhall.

Mr Handley told the Friends meeting that the minutes of the allotments group meeting on 14 January 2022 stating that “the Friends of Vauxhall Fields have indicated they would be supportive of the town council taking control” of Vauxhall were not correct: the Friends had given no such indication.