PROTESTERS fighting plans to build on a World War One memorial field said they are outraged at council plans to review a covenant restricting development there.
Wirral Council’s cabinet is set to look at the restrictive covenant which was placed on the Ingleborough Road field in Tranmere to ensure it remains available for local people for sports and recreation.
Tranmere Rovers, which currently uses the field for training players, submitted plans earlier in the year to build almost 100 homes on the site and boost club funds by £5m.
The club hopes to sell off the land if granted the planning permission, a change which would increase the value of the field substantially.
However, Tranmere has faced opposition.
Opponents of the club’s plans said the entire Ingleborough Road field is a memorial to former pupils of Birkenhead Institute who died during the Great War, including former student and war poet Wilfred Owen.
Tranmere acquired the land, formerly the school playing field for Birkenhead Institute, from Wirral council in 1994.
It includes a plaque in memory of the 88 old boys of the Institute who died during World War I, which under Tranmere’s plans would be moved to a “landscaped area” at the southern entrance to the housing estate.
Opponents of the Tranmere plans had pinned their hopes on the a deed of covenant which restricts the use of the former Birkenhead Institute playing fields to recreational purposes.
Campaigner Dean Johnson said he was concerned the issue of the “release of restrictive covenant” at Ingleborough had come up now.
He said: “As an old boy of Birkenhead institute and founder of the Wilfred Owen story – who is remembered at the ground along with 87 other fallen of WW1 – I am outraged that cabinet would even consider releasing the covenants.
“The planning application has yet to be discussed or approved having been put back nearly half a dozen times. Removal of the covenants would leave the ground wide open for development by anybody.
“TRFC acquired the land at such a modest price because the covenants restricted the use to that of training and playing fields.
