Agenda and minutes

(1)       The Members of the Panel had visited the site prior to the meeting.  The visit was attended by Mrs C Brown (Urban Gravesham - the applicant) and Mr J Foxwell.

(2)       Correspondence from Mr H R Craske had been circulated to the Members of the Panel prior to the meeting.

(3)       The Public Rights of Way Officer introduced the application which had been made by Urban Gravesham under Section 15 of the Commons Act 2006.  It had previously been considered by the Panel on 16 November 2009, when it had been decided to refer it to a non-statutory public inquiry.  The Inquiry had taken place in May 2010 and the Inspector’s report had been published in July 2010.  Following submissions received from the Applicant and comments upon them from the Objector, the Inspector had published a second report in April 2011 re-affirming her findings.

(4)       The Public Rights of Way Officer set out the legal tests that had to be met in order for the application to succeed.  The Inspector had concluded that use of the site had been by a significant number of the inhabitants of the locality for the purposes of lawful sports and pastimes for a period of at least 20 years.  

(5)       The Public Rights of Way Officer explained that the Inspector had focussed on the question of whether use of the site had been “as of right.”  She had concluded that it had not been used by force or stealth.  The question of whether use had been with permission had been far more complicated.  She had established that although most of the land was owned by Gravesham Borough Council, this ownership had been acquired at various times under various powers.  Because one of those powers had been Section 164 of the Public Health Act 1875 (for the purposes of public walks and pleasure grounds), those parts of the site had been used “by right” rather than “as of right.”  The Inspector had therefore concluded that the site was incapable of registration in its entirety.

(6)       The Public Rights of Way Officer referred to Appendix B of the report, which showed the powers under which the land had been acquired by the Borough Council.  She said that the Inspector had considered the application afresh in respect of each individual section of the site.  Those acquired under Section 164 of the Public Health Act 1875 were not capable of registration for the reasons set out in (5) above.   The same principle applied in respect of land at the eastern end of the site, which the Borough Council had originally acquired for other purposes, but which had later been formally appropriated for use as public walks and pleasure grounds.

(7)       The Public Rights of Way Officer said that the Inspector had then applied the legal tests to parcels of land that came under a further three categories. These were: land which had been acquired and held for other purposes (such as street improvement works); land acquired for  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.