At a well attended parish council meeting on Wednesday March 14th it was decided that Walford Parish Council would stop all progress on the recreation field project. A carefully constructed questionnaire will be produced in order to conduct a referendum of all households in the Parish.

The Chairman, Frank Myers, urged all present at the meeting to take part in the referendum and to take an active interest in Parish Council matters in future. He said in that way Councillors could be well informed when they were trying to represent the wishes of those that they serve.

About 200 residents turned up for the Council meeting following a leaflet drop of local houses. This included an aerial photograph with some proposals for the Walford Recreation Ground. This included a caravan park with pitches for 28 caravans, a bowling green, a canoe lake and a dual purpose cricket and football field. One resident told the Ross Gazette: "It looked like a plan for Butlins. It has grown out of all proportion to what was originally envisaged – a traditional playing field area around the village hall.

The recreation field committee had presented their outline views to the general public on two separate occasions. The Chairman Frank Myers told the Ross Gazette: "It became clear that there were widely different perceptions of what recreation facilities were indeed wanted by residents, one of whom had the good grace to apologise for not being active enough in response to the Council's more recent pleas for opinions."

They were told that a survey of residents in 2011 received only 32 responses from nearly a thousand households.