Latest news with #KathyWelham
BBC News
4 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Stoke Lodge campaigner pays Cotham School £85k in legal fees
A campaigner who fought for community access to a playing field has paid more than £85,000 in legal bills to the school that leases it. Cotham School in Bristol put up a 6ft high (2m) fence around Stoke Lodge playing field in 2019, which it said was for safeguarding reasons and due to out-of-control dogs and dog We Love Stoke Lodge member Kathy Welham, and Bristol City Council which leases the site to the school, wanted the local community to "go on sharing the land".Following multiple legal actions, the High Court ruled in June that the playing field did not have to be shared and later ordered Mrs Welham and the council pay the school's legal fees. In a statement, Mrs Welham thanked the local community for its "unwavering and generous support"."We are, as always, standing together and standing by our commitment and obligations. Recent events have only strengthened the community's determination to protect shared use of this precious green space for future generations," she added. The school was granted a 125 year lease to the field in 2011 due to lack of space at its inner city site three miles council had fought alongside Ms Welham after in 2023 it voted to give the field 'town green' status to make it into a shared following the high court ruling, Mrs Welham and her supporters have now paid the full £85,203, while the council was ordered to pay legal bills of £9,467. Mrs Welham said the Village Green application was made with "the objective of ensuring that all parties, including the school, could go on sharing the land as they have done for decades".But she added she hopes the money paid will "mitigate any detriment to Cotham School pupils" due to the legal actions that were paid for out of the school's reserves. In a statement following the decision on legal bills, Cotham School said: "We welcome the recovery of public funds that were necessarily expended in protecting the school's playing field."We Love Stoke Lodge said it now intends to apply to the Court of Appeal for permission to appeal the recent High Court decision and that it has until mid-September to do City Council has previously declined to comment on the legal bills but said it would be complying with the court order.
BBC News
7 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Stoke Lodge field campaigner told to pay £85,000 in legal costs
A campaigner has been ordered to pay £85,000 in legal bills after losing a court battle over who gets to use a playing Welham had been fighting for community access to a 23-acre green space used by Cotham School in June, the High Court ruled that Stoke Lodge playing field – which is being leased to the school by Bristol City Council - did not have to be council, which had been fighting the school alongside Ms Welham, has been ordered to pay legal bills of only £9,467. Both must pay by 28 July. Ms Welham said her costs would be paid by herself and members of the she and the council are now braced for further costs as the combined payments cover only 40% of the school's total legal bill. Cotham School was granted a 125-year lease on the land in 2011 due to lack of space on its inner city site three miles the school became involved in a dispute with residents after it put up a 6ft-high (2m) fence around the field in said it was forced to fence the site for safeguarding purposes for PE lessons, and due to out-of-control dogs and dog 2023, Bristol City Council voted to give the site "town green" status, and told the school it must share the playing field with the month, however, the move was revoked by a High Court Paul Matthews also ruled Bristol City Council and Ms Welham were liable to pay Cotham School's court Welham was denied permission to appeal. In a statement following the decision on legal bills, Cotham School said: "We welcome the recovery of public funds that were necessarily expended in protecting the school's playing field, which are required for our delivery of PE lessons."Ms Welham said the Stoke Lodge community was in "pure shock" at the division of the legal a statement, she said: "We are standing by our commitment and obligations, and I would like to emphasise that we hope that the money that is (unjustly, in my personal view) being required of me and my supporters, will be used to help mitigate any detriment to Cotham School pupils flowing from the effects of the school's repeated legal actions on its financial reserves."Finally, we as a community remain incandescently angry that our last accessible neighbourhood green space, that we love deeply, and which has been relied upon for many decades by the thousands of Bristol citizens who share it with Cotham School, is again in danger of not being protected as it should be."Our commitment to protect the land for future generations is undiminished." 'Chilling impact' A spokesperson for We Love Stoke Lodge residents' group, which campaigned alongside Ms Welham, told the BBC they were worried the judgement could have negative spokesperson said: "Despite the fact that the council was the first defendant in the litigation and was robustly defending a decision that the council itself had made, the court has ordered significant costs against the community."We believe this allocation could have a chilling impact on other community groups seeking to defend important matters of principle."The group said it would be seeking permission to appeal directly from the Court of Appeal, and said it has been given until mid-September to make an City Council declined to comment but said it would be complying with the court order.
