Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services regarding an ongoing application for village green registration for land at Belle Vue, Consett (for copy see file of Minutes).

The Planning and Development Solicitor informed the Committee of the history to the application which had been submitted to the County Council in 2009.  The Council objected to the application at the time and the necessary steps were taken to appoint an inspector and hold a public inquiry, which took place in July 2010.

Following the completion of the public inquiry a report was produced by the inspector which recommended that the application be refused, which the Highways Committee duly considered in April 2011 and resolved to refuse.

Following the decision made by the Highways Committee, a member of Consett Green Spaces Group successfully challenged the decision through the High Court who quashed the decision on the grounds that inspectors reasoning and decision had been made on the misunderstanding effects in case law (the Beresford case) and was sufficient to render the Council’s decision as being flawed.  The decision by the High Court meant that the County Council (as the commons registration authority) would need to re-determine the application.

The Council had a number of options available to it in terms of the re-determination of the application which were outlined by the Planning and Development Solicitor.  The Committee were informed that the most appropriate option would be to instruct the original inspector, Mr Simpson, to reconsider the application and to issue a further supplementary report setting out his conclusions in light of the findings of the High Court. The Planning and Development Solicitor added that there was no reason as to why Mr Simpson should not be asked to advise on the issue and offered the best way forward in bringing the complex legal debate over the village green application and future location of Consett Academy to a timely conclusion.

Consultation had taken place with Consett Green Spaces Group and the County Council who both indicated their support to instruct Mr Simpson to reconsider the application and to issue a further supplementary report.

Councillor Temple, one of the local members for the area and a Member of Consett Green Spaces Group commented that he completely supported the reasoning and recommendations contained in the report, having spent four days at the public inquiry at Consett where he had found the Inspector to be courteous, careful and unbiased and in his opinion, the correct person to provide advice on this occasion.

Resolved:

That the recommendation contained in the report be agreed.