hostile land purchase from local council

[moorfield]

I'm thinking of approaching our local parish council to offer to purchase some land from them. They have aspirations to "develop" it for "the good of the village" but will certainly feck it up because

(i) they are a collection of semi retired bumbling incompetents who make Dad's Army look like the SAS
(ii) they are deeply hapless and unpopular in the village, intested only in their own opinions, and are a pipeline episode for the next series of Midsomer Murders.

So how to go about this?

The land in question is cheap and I wouldn't hesitate to offer double what they paid (1 year ago) for cash. My interest is completely altruistic - ie. no plans for property development or such like - just to hold the land instead of the village idiots until someone can come up with a sensible use for it.

[Moscow Mule]

Parish councils can be vindictive *****.

I suggest testing the water, and if possible make some friends on the council. There will be a ringleader who they all follow, pick him if you can...

[craig1]

It always surprises me how much grief Parish Councils get... most of these councils are returned uncontested at elections because no-one's interested and a huge number have fewer candidates standing for election than seats on offer. The only time any interest is shown is when they want something and then only if they're knocked back.

If people REALLY disliked the council then it takes less than 5 minutes to complete the forms and it's damnably easy to get on the council, especially if the incumbents are disliked. You can also find out if there's a vacancy on the council and apply to be co-opted onto it if the next election is too far away.

(Edit: hit send too early)

There are some really dangerous people on these councils but they're allowed to be dangerous because no-one else wants their entirely voluntary and uncompensated role. If the community really took an interest then you'd get a far better candidate of councillor rather than bored curtain-twitchers.