WE LOST THE COURT CASE

The Friends of Graves Park are devastated by the judgment in court on 15th February 2019 that we have lost our legal action to try and protect Graves Park and have had all costs awarded against us.

While we accept that this case was always going to be difficult, we were quietly confident (perhaps too quiet) that the legal documents protecting J G Gravess gift were clear that there is no power of sale, ironically something repeated in the judgment.

As it stands, Sheffield City Council may make a case for selling off as much of Graves Park as they want, provided they spend those funds on the rest of the park.

Since launching our first fundraising campaign, we have tried to appeal the judgment, but our application to appeal has been refused. There is nothing else that we can do at this time.We still have to find the remainder of the £36,000+ to cover the court costs against us.

What went wrong?

We always knew that this would be a David and Goliath situation. Both ourselves and our legal team have concerns about the decision that was made and the way in which the matter was dealt with. Whilst there was always a risk with any litigation, we would not have sought an appeal unless those concerns had been supported by our legal team.

The Friends of Graves Park took this action on behalf of the citizens of Sheffield, to try and protect what was given to them in trust. Governments and Councils come and go, there are lean years sometimes, but once this beautiful and rare gift is gone, it is gone forever. We will continue to try and protect Graves Park, all of Graves Park from sale or disposal, because the past 20 years have taught us that those who wish to sell off the property of the people will not stop and go away until they are stopped for good.

The Friends of Graves Park still desperately need your helping funds!

We have to raise the £40,000 to cover the costs awarded against us.

Please support us by giving what you can to take us to our goal.

Please show your support by donating what you can.

PLEASE, please help us if you can. Although this is daunting and we find the fight very stressful, we are prepared to continue the fight if you are prepared to support us. We have come this far and we are determined to pursue this to the end to ensure that Graves Park is saved forever for the people of Sheffield, as J G Graves wished.