Ceredigion politicians have written to Ceredigion County Council to urge them to put a legal fight with residents over a Waunfawr field on hold and get round a table for talks to avoid “costly legal proceedings”, the Cambrian News can reveal.

Ceredigion MP Ben Lake and MS Elin Jones have met with campaigners hoping to have the Erw Goch field behind Hafan y Waun designated as a village green in order to protect it from a council bid to build 72 new homes in conjunction with Wales and West Housing on the site.

As the Cambrian News reported last week, external solicitors brought in by the council to handle the legal fight have recommended that if the council’s objections to the plan fail on points of law, a “lengthy and costly” public inquiry will need to be held at a time when finances for the council are stretched.

In a statement to the Cambrian News, Miss Jones and Mr Lake said: “Given the lengthy and costly process of a village green public inquiry, we have written to the council’s chief executive to ask that the legal process be paused and for the council to fund and facilitate an independent mediator between the council and Erw Goch Community­ Association.

“Any appointed mediator would need to be acceptable to both parties.

“This could provide the space to investigate any possible compromises between the two parties involved – the applicant for the village green and the council as the landowner.

“At this time of austerity, it is important to do everything possible to avoid costly legal proceedings.”

The topic of mediating the fight was brought up by councillors when the issue was discussed by full council members.

Ward councillor John Roberts said he was “disappointed” that the council had “refused to discuss the community need for the village green with the applicants”, and “ignored green issues and discussions of the Future Generations Act”.

“Community resilience has been seriously undermined by not compromising with the applicant regarding use of the land,” he said.

“I see plenty of room for discussion between the two parties… but nobody will talk to each other.

“While it is a good idea to have an outside opinion, it is not a good idea to use public money to fight the wishes of the public.

“By both parties talking we can pre-empt an expensive public inquiry that we don’t want.”

Cllr Elizabeth Evans said it is a “huge disappointment that the council haven’t met around the table with the applicants”.

She said that the strength of feeling against the planning application within the community was “huge”.

“It basically amounts to Ceredigion versus the people and that is not a situation we want to be in.

“I am saddened that we haven’t sought any type of mediation and I would like to see that happen.”

The council meeting was told by chief executive Eifion Evans that there was “so many emotive issues that needed to be addressed properly that it was in the council’s interest and the residents’ interest that we put a process in place that was correct”.

“Talking to them is something, now that we have had barrister’s advice, that we can explore further, but we have to tread carefully,” Mr Evans said. “We wanted it to be an open, transparent and fair process.”

The Friends of Erw Goch group said that while it has been “trying to keep an open dialogue with the local authority in relation to this application”, the last correspondence received from the council was more than eight months ago.

The group said it only found out about developments with the council’s appointed solicitor via the Cambrian News story earlier this month.

“We are, and always have been, willing and prepared to meet representatives from the local authority for an informal site meeting on the Erw Goch Field in order to have an open and honest discussion on the way forward in relation to this application,” the group said.

“We would hope that such a meeting and discussion would break down barriers between both parties and improve the lines of communication.”­

The concerns of local residents were put to Ceredigion County Council by the Cambrian News. This is what the council had to say in response:

“Ceredigion County Council has been very careful to separate its responsibilities as landowner and Registration Authority in relation to the Erw Goch Village Green Status application.

“The paper submitted to the council meeting of 20 October sets out that position clearly in relation to both roles.

“To avoid any potential confusion and to allow the matter to progress in accordance with the council’s decision, it will not be responding to any matters relating to either of the council’s roles.”

Questions over whether the legal status of the Erw Goch field could stop a village green bid have been left unanswered.

Ceredigion County Council is pinning its legal objections to a community bid to have the field given village green status on a “statutory incompatibility” defence, which includes an objection that the field is set aside for education and therefore cannot be designated as a village green.

In a report before council last week it says one objection was “because it was acquired and held by the local authority for education purposes which is incompatible with registration as town or village green”.

A conveyance document dated 29 June 1965 for the land says in brackets on the title page: New Site for Ardwyn Grammar School – a move that never went ahead.

Officer Barry Rees also confirmed to the meeting that the legal status of the land is that it is set aside for education.

However, the village green status bid came after a joint scheme in conjunction with Wales and West Housing, to build 77 homes on the field was submitted before quickly racking up scores of objections from local residents.

The development, which has applied for outline permission ahead of a full scheme, would facilitate ”a range of affordable and open market housing tenures” as well as provide a new learning disability facility which would offer “long-term benefits to repatriate a number of out-of-county placements, whilst at the same time delivering significant overall cost savings” to the council, Wales and West Housing said.

Documents show that the development contains no new school or education purposes.

Questions from the Cambrian News to Ceredigion County Council over how the “education purposes” mesh with the plans that the council want to push through on the field, went unanswered.

The Friends of Erw Goch group, in responding to the council, said that “statutory incompatibility is not applicable in this case as there is no evidence whatsoever to prove that Erw Goch Field was, or is, being held for educational purposes”.

“The Erw Goch Field is included in Ceredigion’s first Local Development Plan adopted in 2013,” the group said.

“However, within this plan, the land is not allocated for educational purposes.

“One would assume that if the land was genuinely being held for educational purposes, then it would have been allocated for such purposes within the LDP or at least this would have been noted within the plan.”

The council’s objection on grounds of “statutory incompatibility” will be dealt with as a preliminary issue, a barrister report said, ahead of a potential public inquiry.