COUNCILLORS have agreed that detailed discussions need to take place about buying land at The Basins nature reserve in Wellington.

Members of Wellington Town Council are to look again at an offer made by the Crown Estate Commissioners to sell the authority a number of plots of land in and around The Basins area, which is popular with walkers and families.

Councillors last year agreed to spend £2,300 installing new fencing on either side of the causeway by the two large ponds, which were excavated in the early 1800s to provide a constant flow of water to power the Fox Brothers factory.

There was debate at the time about the council getting into talks with the Crown Estate – who look after The Basins – and whether it could take on ownership of some of the land.

But the talks never really got going and the matter was put to one side – until now that is.

Councillors at their latest meeting agreed that it would be worthwhile to get someone in who could work their way through the legal minefield and complexities of the situation.

Cllr John Thorne said it was something which had been discussed in the past but had never got very far.

“We need to take a legal person to look at what we are being offered,” he said. “This has been looked at before but was put away in a drawer and forgotten about.”

Deputy Mayor Cllr Mark Lithgow said: “This has been an aspiration we have wanted to do for a long-time.”

But he said that things had never got very far because it became ‘too complicated’ as to what the council was being offered to buy.

Cllr Andy Govier said: “The Basins are a really good asset for the town and there are other bits of land down there that are owned by other people.

“We need a detailed discussion and someone with a legal brain to look at it.”

But he added: “It would be good to take it into our ownership.”