Community Ownership Of A Plot Of Land - How To Ensure It Is Well Kept

[Si1]

Hello, would appreciate opinions from people

where I live, we actually have a small growing community of couples renting and are getting back a community feel in our few streets after years of HMOs. historically it has always been a decent terraced working class area, think Coronation street.

(I say this but there are also some chav DSS people in local streets, fighting between nutter blondes etc - yeah, Coronation Street...)

a problem in the area is 2 blocks of old terraced house outside toilets

being enclosed, they harbour ferral youths and so on, some used hypodermic needles have been cleared up etc. no nice.

Someone is putting together a petition to have these blocks knocked down (by whom? and at what risk tothe attached terraced houses?)

and then the land would somehow belong to 'the community' and we would upkeep it as a little vilage green.

Of course, as a right-winger this last bit concerns me as it could easily fall into disrepair without indivudal sense of ownership.

My preference is for the land to be assigned to the local allotments association, as a half plot, who would give first dibs to individuals or groups in the surrounding streets, and again if the lease lapsed in future.

Therefore there would be a legal framework to require they are reasonably maintained, the lease can be rescinded and offered to someone else with greener fingers if the land falls into disrepair.

Thoughts? Anybody already know about any of this sort of thing, village common land etc (this isn't surrey so not sure we'd know what to do with a small green nestled amongst terraced houses anyway) ?????

Edited September 14, 2010 by Si1

[SarahBell]

Alleyways when gated off become owned by the communities ... most of them are scrubland and revolting. By us there's Dena who is a bit of a whizz at keeping them in order.

http://www.nephra.org.uk/achievements.aspx

It takes someone with a lot of time and thick skin to do it.