Over the years hundreds of square metres of Southampton Common have been swallowed up but now the City Council plans to reclaim it...

IN 1272 Southampton Common was a 1,000 acre beauty spot at the heart of the city.

Shirley was built on half of it, in 1884 a chunk was handed over to the cemetery.

But in the last 100 years, the remaining 325 acres has been under a new threat.

An insidious, creeping thief has been taking over more and more of the precious parkland - slowly, discreetly, unwittingly and sometimes deliberately.

The culprit? Scores of homeowners dotted along the boundary.

It's thought that a total of 350 square metres of designated Common are loitering in the extended back gardens of residents in Highfield, Burgess Road and Northlands Road.

Experts have even pointed the finger at Southampton University as a culprit in the constant Common encroachment.

Now city bosses are launching a bid to halt the shrinkage.

They are on a mission costing tens of thousands of pounds to reclaim the missing square metres from people who've allowed their properties to creep over the boundary.

Southampton City Council plans to write to all landowners who have encroached on to the protected land and put up a four foot high fence around the entire Common.

It will cost up to £15,000 just to send out the letters - and £3,000 for every 50m of fencing.

Council experts say the boundary could be "considerable," and would have to be built over a number of years to keep costs down.

The massive scheme will come before Southampton City Council bosses for approval today, but it has already won the approval of the city's green organisation.

Arthur Jeffery, chairman of the Southampton Common and Parks Protection Society, said: "Our organisation has no teeth, we can only supply the information. It's the council who has to take action and hope they will. This has been going on for 50 or 60 years."

He added: "This will take up to 15 years to put right, as and when properties come up for sale. It's not a matter of going in and demanding that the land be given back.

"Most people probably won't even know their gardens are over the boundary. They will have bought the house and the solicitor didn't tell them. On the whole, it's not intentional - we don't want to accuse the present incumbents of grabbing space."

Originally, a ditch and, inside that, a mound of earth bordered the Common, which was handed over to the city in 1272 by Arthur Atherley on behalf of the Manor of Shirley.

The actual edge of the Common was outside the ditch - and fences should not go beyond that.

But over the years, the boundary has been pushed inward.

Mr Jeffery, who was born in Highfield and used to play on the Common as a youngster, pointed the finger at Westbourne Crescent as the encroachment hot spot.

"Some of the gardens there go as much as three metres on to the Common. That's a big problem and it adds up," he said.

Other take over problem spots include:

Gates from homes in Northlands Close that open directly on the Common. In the 1920s the parks authority charged a shilling a year for the access - but it's now deemed illegal.

A bus stop on Hill Lane which cuts into the bank surrounding the Common.

Concrete steps at the University of Southampton, which go over the ditch and cut into the bank.

(l Some homes in Burgess Road where the bank is actually inside the back garden and fences have doors leading on to the Common.

In recent years Southampton City Council, responsible for the land on behalf of residents, has made attempts to prevent private homeowners invading the Common.

Although successes have been notched up in some cases, council officers say the attempts have been "piecemeal".

Leisure boss Peter Wakeford said this scheme would be a definitive reclamation programme.

"What we are proposing is to give power to our officers and solicitors to take action on people living near the Common who have encroached on to it," he said.

"We need to do something. We don't want to go back to where we were before."

He added that the approach would not be heavy-handed - and residents would be encouraged to take action themselves before any court cases are launched.

However, there are still fears that some homeowners will not give up the land easily.

Shirley councillor Terry Matthews said: "I think it will cause a few problems. These encroachments are very historical and in some cases have existed for decades. But there's a rule that says no matter how long it's been there, the land still belongs to the Common."