Hands off, that's community land!

Reporter: Rosalyn Roden
Date published: 05 May 2017


A PROJECT has been launched to safeguard community spaces in Mossley after land was put up for sale.

Save Our Community Spaces (SOCS) was set up in response to Tameside Council's decision to auction off five plots of land.

Dozens of residents crammed into St John's Church, Roughtown, to celebrate the launch, with many signing up to support the campaign.

Reverend David Warner, who welcomed people to St John's, said: "There is nothing quite so important as space where the community can come together."

Cosgrove Gardens and land off Greaves Street were withdrawn from auction following protests.

But SOCS members are concerned this withdrawal may only be a temporary measure and set up the project last weekend to protect the land.

Spring Street Gardens was granted a six-month reprieve after residents registered the land as a community asset.

However, land off Nield Street was sold for £190,000 at the auction on April 25.

A Spring Street resident said: "We are working-class people. We don't have big houses, we don't have gardens, we don't have garages. But we do have this space."