LAND ownership is always interesting and there is a fascinating if slightly bizarre case in Badger Farm.

There is a segment of hillside land on the 1980s estate whose ownership appears to have fallen through a crack in the pavement. Some 30 years after the estate was built chunks of land including Davis Kickabout were sold at auction in 2021 to persons unknown.

As we report in the paper today, local people assumed the David Kickabout was owned by the city council. But for reasons probably lost in the mists of time the formal transfer was never made and the land was sold when the owner Davis Development folded.

The land south of Lark Hill Rise, next to Lowden Close and Honeysuckle Close had been public open space for decades but now locals are concerned it could end up in the hands of housing developers.

So an application has been made by Badger Farm Parish Council to declare the land technically as a 'village green' and so ensuring it will, in theory, be protected from development for ever.

It seems strange that land where people exercise their dogs and where children play should be under some vague threat but there we are.

Anyone can have their say by writing to the Countryside Access Team at Hampshire County Council by January 3.

We would urge people in Badger Farm to make their feelings known to the council, otherwise the ownership of the land could get more than interesting.