24 May 2006 Law Lords give green light to green spaces

The village green application had been held pending the House of Lords ruling on the Trap Grounds case.  The ruling reversed an Appeals Court judgment that would have effectively ended the possibility of registering land as a village green.

From the Open Space Society's web site (www.oss.org.uk):

Law Lords give green light to green spaces
24 May 2006

The Law Lords have today ruled that Trap Grounds, open space in north Oxford, can be registered as a town green.
The Friends of Trap Grounds, backed by the society, have been campaigning for many years to save this important open space.
Says Nicola Hodgson, our case officer: ‘This is a landmark case, not only for Trap Grounds itself, but also because there are many spaces which people have been campaigning to have registered as greens to protect them from development. Many such applications were put on hold, pending the outcome of this case. Thanks to this judgment, they have the green light.
‘The Friends of Trap Grounds have reversed a damaging judgment in the Court of Appeal. Now, applicants for greens only have to prove that they have used the land for recreation until the date of their application. Previously, if a landowner challenged the use at any time before the land was registered, the application would fail. With a hostile landowner, this challenge was inevitable,’ Nicola explains.
‘In the leading judgment, Lord Hoffmann said that people had an unqualified right to engage in lawful sports and pastimes, clarifying what had been an unclear area of the law.
‘Just a few examples of the many applications which will, as a result of this judgment, now have a chance of succeeding are:

‘We are delighted that the Friends of Trap Grounds have won and we urge Oxfordshire County Council to register the land as soon as possible - thereby saving it from Oxford City Council’s plans to develop it,’ Nicola concludes.

1. The judgment is Oxfordshire County Council (respondents) v Oxford City Council (appellants) and another (respondent) (2005) and others [2006] UKHL 25. The judges were Lord Hoffmann, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe and Baroness Hale of Richmond. The judgment is at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldjudgmt/jd060524/oxf-1.htm
2. Land can be registered as a town or village green if it has been used by local people for ‘lawful sports and pastimes’ (i.e. informal recreation) for 20 years freely and openly. The registration authority is the county or unitary council.
   This case concerns the nine-acre Trap Grounds in North Oxford, owned by Oxford City Council which wants to develop it for housing. Catherine Robinson, of the Friends of Trap Grounds, applied to Oxfordshire County Council to register the land as a green, on the grounds that local people had used it for recreation for 20 years. She applied in 2002, and in 2003 the city council erected notices saying ‘Private property. Access prohibited’. Oxfordshire County Council applied to the High Court for a ruling on a number of issues and Mr Justice Lightman ruled in favour of the Friends of Trap Grounds. Oxford City Council appealed to the Court of Appeal which overturned many of Mr Justice Lightman’s points. All three parties petitioned the House of Lords.
3. The Friends of Trap Grounds is led by Catherine Robinson. See www.trap-grounds.org.uk
4. The legislation which protects greens from encroachment and development is section 12 of the Inclosure Act 1845 and section 29 of the Commons Act 1876.
5. The Court of Appeal case is Oxfordshire County Council v Oxford City Council and Catherine Mary Robinson [2005] EWCA Civ 175. (Ms Robinson was not against registration but had petitioned against elements of the previous judgment.) The judgment can be found at http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2005/175.html

17 June 2006 Reworked Forms Resubmitted

The completely reworked forms were resubmitted to County Hall and their decision is awaited.

27 September 2006 Submission Accepted

Following some amendments to the description of the 'neighbourhood' and notarisation of changes, the application was finally accepted.

Click here for a copy of the final application (1.4Mb).

28 November 2006 Objections Received

Following a six-week period during which objections to the application could be made, three objections were received.

The primary objections were from ING.  There were 4 sworn affidavits which included the following key points (from different people and edited to remove their identity):

• To the best of my knowledge and belief, the railway lines were removed in 1983.  In 1992/1993 certain landscaping works were carried out by Kerrier Groundwork Trust, when the harbour was in the ownership of Aldersgate Developments Ltd, a De Savary owned company.
  Prior to the landscaping the Land was overgrown with weeds, covered in rubbish and inaccessible.  The Land was therefore not capable of beneficial use by the inhabitants of the locality for lawful sports and pastimes.  See the photograph.  (Looking north from the station).

• From 1997 to 2004 I lived close to the area to be designated a village green.  When I moved to Hayle, the path along the Land from the road to Hayle Station was only a narrow track overgrown by brambles on either side.  This overgrowth was all the way along the path to the station.  Any previous landscaping had fallen into disrepair.  In my opinion, in 1997, the Land in question could not have been in use for lawful sports or pastimes.
• De Savary consented to the Land being landscaped as part of a Penwith District Council initiative.  I cannot recall the precise arrangements that were agreed for possession of the Land but they were sufficient to satisfy the requirement for government funding to be provided.  It is my recollection that although the owners were prepared to make the area of Land available, as they had no immediate plans for redevelopment that involved the site, they were not prepared to commit to sell it to the District Council and reserved the right to include it in any of their future proposals for their Land holding.  Prior to the landscaping the Land was overgrown with weeds, covered in rubbish and inaccessible.
• In approximately, 1983 the railway lines were removed and certain landscaping works were carried out in 1992/1993.  This work was undertaken by Kerrier Groundwork Trust, when the harbour was in the ownership of Aldersgate Developments Limited, a De Savary company.  De Savary consented to the Land being landscaped as part of the PDC initiative on the understanding that the use of the Land would revert to him for development at a later date.
  De Savary's plans earmarked this land for affordable housing.  Plans for the development of Foundry (South) Quay were later passed by PDC.  These plans were passed but would not have been had they not included plans for affordable housing.

I have 26 forms prepared in support of the village green application indicating that people had used the land for 'lawful pastimes' over the last 20 years.

If you have any comments, either in support or against of any of the comments above, I would be pleased to hear them.  I have added a topic to my discussion forum - that would be a good place for your feedback.

11 April 2007 Letter From County Legal Services

Click here to read the letter.