Community group 'gazumped' as Church of England sells land earmarked for nature project to developer
The Church of England has been criticised for selling off a parcel of land to developers to build a housing estate despite having already accepted a bid from a village community group for a re-wilding project.
Members of Floyer Lane Community Group said the church allowed them to be "gazumped" over the sale of land in Benthall, just outside Broseley.
Despite winning a sealed tender process with the Church of England's asset department - the Church Commissioners - which owns the land, the villagers say the church sold it from under them to a developer, who plans to build 100 homes on the land.
The group had planned to turn the area into a wildlife haven and provide the villagers a place to relax.
Richard Smith, a computer consultant who has lived in Benthall for 30 years, explained.
He said: "There were nine of us that got together. We came up with a bid to protect the land. We wanted to use it to make more room for natural flowers, mammals, a sort of a re-wilding project although that is a bit of a simplification as it would be managed piece of land that wold maximise the mammals and wild plants."
