Residents of a small south Warwickshire village have urged Warwickshire County Council to think again about carrying out work on their village green and have asked for an independent review of their case.

Their concerns date back three years when a driveway was built across the land in the centre of Burmington, near Shipston, but they claim their complaints were ignored by officers at Shire Hall.

Speaking at this week's [WED] meeting of Warwickshire County Council's communities overview and scrutiny committee, resident Alan Swift called for action.

He said: "We are here representing the parish of Burmington, asking the committee to look into our complaint against Warwickshire County Council. We would like to ask the committee to appoint someone independent to review the details of our complaint and report back to this committee on their findings.

"In 2018, the county council granted permission for a property developer to excavate a five-metre wide Tarmac driveway. There was no consultation and no notice."

Mr Swifts said it seemed that the county council could reclassify legally registered village greens as part of the highway, meaning they can be driven on, parked on, Tarmaced or completely removed by widening the carriageway.

He added: "When diggers turned up and started excavating the village green we notified the council that this was a criminal offence. Rather than apologise, the council assigned their legal team to impartially investigate the issue.

"It was impossible for this team to support our complaint without incriminating the council. They did the only thing they could and attempted to bury the complaint and ignore it. It took two attempts by our MP Nadhim Zahawi to finally get the council to respond.

"We just want someone impartial to talk to us openly and frankly about this issue. If Burmington Village Green is legally registered and not part of the highway then the council has no power to do anything on the land – in fact, to do any work on the land is a criminal offence."

Committee chairman Cllr Jonathan Chilvers (Green, Leamington Brunswick) explained how the matter would be dealt with.

He said: "The process is a little bit cold in that there is no immediate opportunity to respond but all councillors have contact details and may choose to take it up with you outside the meeting."