No cash for Baxter Field

LEWES townspeople are pressing for the privately-owned Baxter Field to pass into public ownership.

But neither Lewes District Council nor Lewes Town Council is likely to come up with the 80,000-plus needed to buy it, should it be offered for sale.

The Baxter printing works, which owns the field, is soon to leave after 200 years in the town.

And agent Clifford Dann Commercial is preparing a report for Baxter's parent company Fulmar on the firm's assets, which include five units on the Cliffe industrial estate, the Baxter's works facing the High Street, and the Baxter Field adjacent to the publically-owned Paddock.

Said Clifford Dann joint senior partner Michael Squire: 'It is early days. We are preparing a report. No firm valuations have been made as yet. The five industrial units are the only assets currently being actively sold.'

Clifford Dann is also looking at likely future uses for the print works. Planning policy is for the works to remain a source of employment in the town and for the field to stay an open space.

Residents, however,are concerned that the field could be sold to a would-be developer, and many would like to see it join the Paddock as one big public open space.

But Lewes District Council leader and Lewes Town Council member Cllr Ann De Vecchi said: 'Sadly there is little hope of us buying it. The district doesn't have the money to invest in land ownership. The town council has not precepted for such a project.

'The situation will however inevitably be discussed by the town council. One comfort is that we have strong planning policies in place to protect the field from development.'