Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services regarding an application to register an area of land as town or village green known as ‘The Green’ at Elm Crescent, Kimblesworth (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Committee were informed that 30 witness letters had been submitted with the application.  The application was advertised as stipulated by regulations. No formal objections to the application had been received.

The Legal Adviser informed the Committee that section 22 of the Commons Registration Act 1965 would apply in the case presented before them given that the application had been submitted prior to the Commons Act 2006.  The applicant must demonstrate that all elements contained within section 22 of the Act must have been satisfied on the ‘balance of probabilities’, those being:

·         the inhabitants of any locality

·         have indulged in such sports and pastimes

·         as of right

·         for not less than 20 years

A local resident had questioned the extent of the land as it included an area within his ownership and had raised an issue regarding access.  The applicant had advised that the application plan should be reconfigured to exclude the area within his ownership and the area was included as an oversight and did not reflect the position on the ground.  The application had requested that the area detailed in Appendix 6 to the report be excluded from the registration.

The legal adviser informed the Committee that the majority of the application site was owned by the County Council and confirmed that the area of land owned by Mr Hind, had actually been included in error.

Mr Hind confirmed that he had nothing to add to the application and confirmed that the eastern edge of the boundary consisted of mixed hedge which acted as a barrier of segregation.

Resolved

That the land, excluding the area within the ownership of Mr Hind, had been satisfied by the applicant and that the application for registration of the land known as ‘The Green’, Kimblesworth be agreed.