Saint Alkmund's Green
Darley Lane, Derby
A town green registered on 10th September 2010 in accordance with the Commons Act 2006.The Official Register entry can be viewed at Derby City Council's offices.
Town Green Register number DER/VG/2
Saint Alkmund's Green is a piece of land of some 2,100 square metres which is open to the public. It is situated alongside Darley Lane in Derby (postcode DE1 3AX). At the northern end is River Street and North Parade. A short distance to the south is the beautiful Saint Mary's Church. The green is also on the edge of the Strutt's Park Conservation Area which extends to the north.
The land which now belongs to Derby City Council, was once a burial ground for Saint Alkmund's Church. It became a playground and garden in the 1930s. Latterly Saint Mary's School used the playground until the school moved to the Broadway in 2004.
In July 2010, it was registered by Derby City Council as a Town and Village Green under the 2006 Commons Act. Ownership of the land remains with the council, but the green is now a designated public open space with special protection as a town green. You are free to enter and enjoy this piece of land.
As of April 2021, the education and schools department at the council remains responsible for the green by virtue of the land's recent history. Since the land no longer has any connection to any school, this website understands there are discussions within the council for the parks department to take on responsibility for Saint Alkmund's Green - but this has not yet been confirmed. Local councillor, Alison Martin, recently said that the Parks Department does not have any budget available to take it on.
Understandably, whilst responsibility lies within the remit of Education, with neither a budget nor management time available to do anything with the land, it remains in limbo. Many of the suggested improvements voiced by enthusiastic local people at the last community meeting held in 2019 have not come to fruition. Even if the parks department takes over management of the green, this in itself does not guarantee that any money shall spent to transform the green into a desirable open space.
If the council has neither the funds nor aspiration to make any improvements to the green, it is feasible that a community group - if successfully organised - could apply for grants or funding to pay for improvement projects. One source of cash might be monies received by the Derby City Council under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act. Section 106 payments are essentially payments made by developers to offset the impact of local developments.
However, getting funding is not the only hurdle, any projects organised by community groups, even if financed, would also require the consent of the landowner, which ultimately is Derby City Council.
Feast of Saint Alkmund's Day - Mar. 2025
Come and mark the Feast Day of Saint Alkmund, Derby's patron saint, on Wednesday 19th March at 1pm.
Everyone is welcome to join our gathering at St Alkmund's Well on the corner of Bath and Well Street, ten minutes' walk from Derby Cathedral and a few hundred yards from Saint Alkmund's town green.
Find out about Saint Alkmund, the history of the Well, and our plans to create a traditional well dressing in May.
Floral tributes (without plastic) can be left at the Well.
Organised by the St. Alkmund's Well Community Project
Streetpride out in force
February 15th, 2022 - two cheerful people from Derby Council's Streetpride, were working hard down on the green on a cold and grey morning. Over the autumn the steps from Darley Lane had been buried under a deep carpet of leaves. A few hurricane-force blasts from a high-powered Stihl leaf blower soon had those blown away! Apparently, they do have battery powered leaf blowers, which are a lot quieter - and probably better for the environment - but they do not have the same clout, which is a shame. "Rakes progress" you might say.
Unfortunately, the cacophonous din from the leaf blower made it very hard to hear what Councillor Martin had to say about the green's future, and indeed the reasons for the glacial pace of progress over the last 10 or more years to get improvements going. She was on Darley Lane putting up a poster in the community notice board which is accessible only to a few designated key-holders - including councillors. Speak to them nicely, and you might be allowed to put up your own poster.
Councillor Alison Martin on Darley Lane.
Cost of recent works
The council's Freedom of Information officer has now responded to a request to disclose more details about the cost of recent works on the green. Namely, partial hedgerow clearance, removing said hedgerow soon thereafter, installing a fence and making a land drain as reported on the website.
| Work completed | Date | Cost |
| Remove dead section of conifer hedge, remove self-set trees from along fence line and reduce remaining hedge | March 2019 | £1,900 |
| New fencing | June 2019 | £4,780 |
| Land Drain | Sep. 2021 | £6,046 |
| Total | £12,726 | |
Full details can be found on the Meetings and Reports page.
Drainage work underway - Sep. 2021
Work has started on a new drainage sytem at Saint Alkmund's Green. Workmen from Derby City Council were on site on 29th September, cutting a channel alongside the bottom fence in preparation for a new land drain to take away surface water run-off from the the playground. For many years, surface water running down the sloping tarmac has led to concerns and complaints from adjacent property owners.
October 2021 - Groundwork continues apace for a new drain being constructed about a metre from the security fence and about four metres offset from the eastern land boundary. A fully perforated, 100 millimetre diameter land drain will be set in a lined trench under a filter medium. A top layer of wood chips will form the upper surface of the trench.
To know more about this small plot of land's interesting story, please go to the town green's history section.
The last public meeting was held on 9th September 2019, to read the minutes, please follow this link.
(Town Green Register number DER/VG/2)
(Town Green Register number DER/VG/2).