Palm Bay residents and ward councillor club together to buy ‘under threat’ land at The Ridings at auction

September 11, 2025 Kathy Bailes News 11

Ward councillor Barry Manners (right) and some of the residents celebrating the successful bid

Palm Bay residents are celebrating after successfully saving a stretch of wildlife-rich green land at The Ridings that had been put up for auction.

The 2.2 acre strip was put up for sale by developer Greenfurb via Auction House London with a guide price of £1000 plus fees,

The land, which is a local wildlife site and designated as open space in the Local Plan, went under the hammer today (September 111).

A group of 21 residents and ward councillor Barry Manners clubbed together to make the successful bid of a whopping £141,000 plus auction and legal fees, which brings the total to around £160k.

Residents had feared the 600m-long strip of land would be bought by developers.

Land up for auction at The Ridings (Image Auction House London)

Cllr Manners said: “We got a group of residents together and used the Friends of Botany Bay to hold the funds. We have 21 investors and I have bought the land on behalf of them, signing the contract.

“We will set up a legal entity, a Trust or CIC, owned by the contributors so the land will be owned by the residents on behalf of the community. All the residents will be shareholders.

“The land will only be for recreational use and we are talking to Thanet council about them continuing to manage the land in perpetuity.

“We hope we can come to a deal with the council as the residents have stuck out their necks to protect this land as public green space.

“We just wanted to save the land so it did not fall into the hands of landbankers.”

It is understood that Sunleys Ltd, which originally built the estate and previously owned the land before selling the plot to Greenfurb, made an agreement with Thanet council in 1984 that the land was to be dedicated to the public for recreational use.

The land, which runs alongside Princes Walk between Palm Bay and Botany Bay beaches, is used daily by joggers, dog walkers and hikers.

The purchase follows an unsuccessful bid by residents to buy a plot at the rear of Sandhurst Road, also sold at auction by Greenfurb, which has been a green space for residents for more than 40 years.

11 Comments

  4. Can anyone tell me who owns the rest of the land between this site and the cliff top? Who owns the land between Princes Walk and Palm Bay Avenue? The recreation ground between Magnolia Avenue and Palm Bay Avenue? Not to mention all the cliff top greenswards between the coast roads and the sea from Cliftonville and Minnie Bay?

  5. Imagine having a nice view like that and a greedy developer comes along builds there. Like in Folkstone where they have built those new flats on the actual beach it looks like. Well done for stopping that from happening.

  6. Wow. This is great news so long as the land continues to remain accessible and can never be built on. Congratulations to the residents for protecting the site at some considerable cost but why oh why did it come to this? Shame on those that sold it on 😡

  7. Well done! Was this strip known as ‘the gallop’? i’m surprised it was sold off from public land at all. Thank goodness it is saved.

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