IMPORTANT NEW VILLAGE GREEN DECISION

An Inspector's report has recently been published which addresses whether land acquired by a local authority as "amenity land" under the Housing Acts may, in principle, be capable of registration as a town/village green. A developer (who was proposing to acquire the land from a local authority) submitted that land acquired and held as "amenity land" carried with it an entitlement for local inhabitants to use the land for recreational purposes and, importantly, an appreciation on the part of the local authority landowner that the land could be used for such purposes. It was therefore submitted, in those circumstances, that users were not asserting a right to use the land. The Inspector accepted this submission and concluded that recreational use of land held as "amenity land" under the Housing Acts were not used "as of right". This is an important persuasive decision for local authorities in respect of land acquired and held as "amenity land" under the Housing Acts and represents a logical extension to the observations by the House of Lords in Beresford that land held by local authorities for recreational purposes can not be used as of right.

Douglas Edwards appeared for the successful objector. He was instructed by David Shakesby of Osborne Clarke, Bristol.