Riverside field could be saved for the town

The two-and-a-half acres of land alongside the Ingleburn length of the river, behind Malmesbury Bowls Club, and is privately owned.

The previous owner put a covenant on it stipulating it must be used for arable purposes. Trust chairman Mary Hill said this should scare off developers.

The trust is a registered charity with 150 members and 13 directors whose president is Inspector Morse actor James Grout, who lives at The Triangle in Malmesbury.

"It is a low-lying piece of land that gets boggy when it rains, and we would like to keep it pretty much as it is," said Mrs Hill, of King's Wall, Malmesbury.

"We want to keep it, maintain it, manage it, and preserve it as a place for the town to enjoy."

Part of the Malmesbury River Valleys walk, which is looked after by the town's civic trust, runs through the land and is a public right of way.

Mrs Hill said that, should the trust acquire it, it could also arrange for people to graze animals on the site.

In addition, whilst the trust would be responsible for its upkeep, the land would be made over to the Official Custodian for Charities at the Charities Commission.

"In effect, even if the trust was to cease to exist, which is highly unlikely, the land would be preserved for the town," added Mrs Hill.

Mrs Hill also said that, due to the close proximity of the land to the river, should the River Valleys Trust be responsible for it, it would maintain it for posterity for the town.

"It is surrounded on three sides by branches of the river and forms part of the much-valued Malmesbury River Walk," she said.

"We feel that preserving it would be in the best interests of the town."

Mark Jones, of auctioneer Fielder and Jones, of Oxford Road, Malmesbury, said he did not know how much interest the land would attract.

"It is anyone's guess but there is little that can be done with it apart from agricultural use," he said.

Mr Jones would not reveal the identity of the previous owner.

Brian Reynolds, secretary of the bowls club, said he would welcome the field remaining as open land.

He said if the land did not have the covenant on it, and if it could afford it, the club would like to extend its car park on to the site, or build another green.

"It would be nice if we could purchase the land but we cannot do anything with it anyway, and the value would be too great for us anyway, so I think it is quite nice just to leave it natural, and a good place to walk."

Charles Vernon, of the Malmesbury Civic Trust, said he supported the River Valleys Trust's bid.

"We would just like to keep it as it is," he said.

"You would need to be a blind man to buy it and hope to build houses on it, it just isn't suitable for anything else."

The auction is in the meeting room at The King's Hotel in the High Street at 6.30pm.

In 1993 the trust bought Conygre Mead, which is about 6.4 acres near Malmesbury Abbey, for £25,000.

The site is home to 19 varieties of nesting birds, as well as reptiles and flies. The trust also planted hawthorn hedges and oak and beech trees.