Today I joined a protest about the sale of some public land by the local
council. I was wondering if anyone here can point me to a simple to
understand precis of the current planning or legal situation.

In this particular case, my understanding of the current position is
that the land was covenanted to the local community by someone with the
condition that it should remain open space. Any covenant documents
appear to have been lost.
This was raised in the past when the council first proposed the sale,
and the council took legal advice and backed down.

They have now re-advertised the land for auction. A councillor attended
the protest and said that the situation was now different because the
council has advice that it is a different body from "the community" and
so can just decide to sell any public land. He also said that recent
changes in planning law appear to have resulted in a situation whereby a
council can take any piece of public land and sell it.

There are other areas close by which have similar covenants, so this is
almost certainly the soft target for the thin end of the wedge.

--
Bill