Religious group fail in green bid

[Micah]

Maybe someone from the area can explain what exactly the green bid is.

Religious group fail in green bid

[Shawnster]

Context from the article indicates it's a bid or request to use the green space or parklike area in the village.

[retroHelen]

A big group of my family, inc. myself, have been on holiday to Bourton-on-the-Water. It is a beautiful large village of ancient warm golden coloured stone cottages with stone slab tile/shingle or thatched rooves.It is in the Cotswolds, further south in England from our Lake District. Bourton was built either side of the ankle-deep shallow river Windrush and is very picturesque. It is a flatter terrain than our lake District, but because of the pretty villages, an equally famous area for tourists. I am presuming that the JW's there wrote for permission to put up a small market-style stall of our literature, (like we are doing in our market-place) on a space on the green/grassy areas beside the river, to catch the tourist coaches that come regularly from April to October. It seems that because the elder who wrote for the permission does not live in the area, they have not been given permission. Perhaps they should try next year and use a local brother's address that time, as he states that there are brothers living in Bourton. I can understand the local Council reticence to a point, as the village greens take a lot of upkeep for a small population of local taxpayers, and get trampled on by thousands of tourists and they cannot let just anyone put up stalls and sandwich-boards on them. The regulations are even stricter in the Lake District's National Park where we are, so we stick to the regular town market-places where it's paved.

Bourton, pretty village built either side of the shallow Windrush river, with footbridges for those who don't want to get their feet wet.

[rbrown1205]

Dunno. But this may be it ---

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procurement#Green_public_procurement

[retroHelen]

Dunno. But this may be it ---

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procurement#Green_public_procurement

.

Not this time - the news item refers to the 'village green' by the river, not 'green' as in environmental issues. All towns and villages have designated 'green space' that belongs to the local Council/government.

This is either a park or the ancient 'Commons'/village-green in the centre of the village where villagers where once allowed to 'share in common' the land for grazing of their small individually owned flocks of sheep,cattle donkeys or geese.This all stopped when traffic became a hazard to livestock and the land reverted to the local Council to look after, with local Council Tax money.

Anyone wishing to erect even temporary structures or signs on 'green space' have to apply first for permission to the local Council at the Town Hall or the Chairman of the local Parish (ancient designation now not necessarily to do with the Church, usually to do with governance of Villages rather than towns) Council.

[rbrown1205]

Thanks, that's clear. Sorry they lost the opportunity to witness in this way.

In my area, the green is where the bus stops meet, and where there are statues of historical people of the city, and often food vendors offer food. Witnesses whose territory the green belongs to, will do street work there.

Like the city official implied, I think that there is some religious prejudice there. Wasn't it in London, 50 miles southeast of Oxford, that the big to-do about atheists putting billboards on buses went on last year?