A CAMPAIGN group fighting to save a public garden has been given a lifeline after the treasured green space failed to sell at auction.

Save Our Spaces formed last month in a bid to combat overdevelopment in Walton from consuming the seaside town’s diminishing parks and gardens.

The group of activists’ campaign was catalysed after an auction board suddenly appeared in a small public garden in Church Road near the Walton train station.

Fearing the “beautiful patch of green” would be flattened by housing, the ambitious residents strove to raise £75,000 in just two weeks in a bid to purchase the garden themselves.

Their fundraising efforts, however, fell short and the precious conservation area, which measures 500 square metres, was taken to auction by Strettons on Oct 28 on behalf of JC Decaux.

But to the astonishment of the garden advocates, the precious green space failed to sell and currently remains ‘available’ on the official Strettons website.

Hilary Carter, 64, of Newgate Street, spearheads the Save Our Spaces movement and says the unexpected result has given the team even more chance of protecting the nostalgic garden.

She said: “We were so concerned that our little garden would be sold and then built on.

“But we were so very pleased when we heard that it had not sold because that meant we had more time to decide on the best course of action.

“This is not an easy journey, but we will do everything we can to protect this space.”

Ms Carter, alongside her band of valiant crusaders, is now planning on filing an application to make the land a designated local green space.

If the garden’s community importance is acknowledged and the application is successful, the beloved garden will then be protected from development.

She said: “We are going to put in an application to have the land designated as a green space because I honestly don’t know what we would do if it was sold.

“But once an application for green space status is lodged, I assume the auctioneers would have to inform any potential purchasers that an application has been lodged.

“There is so much building work going on in this area that we owe it to future generations to protect these green spaces for them to be able to enjoy.”