Shrewsbury Town Council has spent £1.34m buying back land it had ‘wrongly’ deemed ‘surplus to requirements’.
The local authority sold part of Greenfields Recreation Ground to developers in 2017 and Shropshire Council later granted planning permission for 15 homes to be built on the plot.
But campaigners Greenfields Community Group discovered that the land was held in trust to the community and their legal challenge led to the Supreme Court quashing the planning permission.
Using the money from the original sale, plus interest accrued, Shrewsbury Town Council has now re-purchased the land at a net cost of £600,000.
It said it was seeking to offset the cost by pursuing compensation from other parties it believed were responsible for the errors in 2017.
Council leader Alan Mosley said Shrewsbury would work with the community to decide how the land is now used, with current plans to cultivate the area into a nature recovery and countryside site.
Greenfields Communtiy Group said: ‘Endless thanks are owed to all those involved in the intense legal work and the tireless fundraising that enabled the community to reach this day, safe in the knowledge that Greenfields parkland will be a public community asset for years to come.’
