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Local residents’ groups have turned increasingly to the law relating to village greens as a way of challenging developers.
Successful registration of a site as a village green kills off development – all development – forever.
To register a site as a village green, local residents must show that a significant number of them have indulged in sports and pastimes on the site for at least 20 years. It is sufficient if they have used the site for informal activities, such as dog walking, picnics, blackberry picking, flying kites or children’s games.
Campaigns against developers have extended to fields, beaches, woodlands and abandoned playing fields. Even derelict ground in a London suburb. All a far cry from the traditional image of the village green.
In our last mailing on this topic we mentioned the alarming judgment of the High Court in Oxfordshire County Council v. Oxford City Council.
This case concerned a nine acre derelict site just to the north west of Oxford, appropriately called “Trap Grounds”.
The court held that residents may be able to register a site as a village green even if they have not actually used the site for many years, so long as they can show that they racked up 20 years’ unbroken use at an earlier time.
This decision could have had devastating consequences for unsuspecting developers. (And their lawyers.) Trap grounds indeed.
However, we are now pleased to report that this decision has been overturned and the trap removed on appeal. The Court of Appeal has said that the residents' use must continue up to the date on which the site is actually registered as a village green.
In theory, the Court of Appeal has given owners and developers a final opportunity to defeat village green rights, by interrupting the residents' use before registration. Developers might achieve this by fencing off the site, for example, or, less harshly, by allowing a farmer to carry out a reasonable level of agricultural activity.
But beware. Such tactics will work only if the residents do not object. Fat chance.
Our original conclusion therefore remains the same – village greens are no walkover for developers.
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