VILLAGE GREEN REGISTRATION MADE EASIER: YET ANOTHER IMPORTANT DECISION FROM OXFORDSHIRE

In an important High Court decision - R (Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Trust) v Oxfordshire County Council - HH Judge Waksman, QC has established that, for land to be eligible to be registered as a town or village green,  there is no  need to show that the majority of those who used it came from a single neighbourhood.  It is enough to show that a significant number of people from at least one definable local neighbourhood used the land - even if the applicant for registration lives elsewhere.  The fact that many others may have also done so is irrelevant; the "predominance" test introduced by Lord Hoffmann in Sunningwell thus no longer applies.  On the other hand, once land has been registered, conferring rights on the residents of one neighbourhood to use it for recreation, it is not possible for inhabitants of another neighbourhood subsequently to acquire similar rights.

On a separate issue, the decision also established that where a notice is posted on land, its wording and effect are to be interpreted on the basis of the impression given to those who read it, not in the light of the subjective intention of those who erected it.

A transcript of the decision is available at http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2010/530.html .  FTB is not responsible for the content of external sites. There is to be no appeal.

Charles George QC and Philip Petchey appeared for the Claimant; Charles Mynors for the Defendant.