Agenda and minutes

(1)       Members of the Panel and Ms S C Carey (the Local Member) visited the application site shortly before the meeting.   Mr S Huntley, the applicant was present as were Ms A Rodgers, the landowner’s representative and some 12 members of the public.

(2)       Ms S J Carey was present for this item pursuant to Committee Procedure Rule 2.21 and spoke.

(3)       Correspondence from Lyminge Parish Council was tabled at the meeting. This set out that although the Parish Council neither supported nor opposed the application, it believed that the criteria for registration had been met.

(4)       Mr Huntley and Ms Rodgers were also present at the meeting together with Mrs H Burr (supporter) and some 9 members of the public.

(5)       The Public Rights of Way and Commons Registration Officer introduced the application, which had been made under Section 15 of the Commons Act 2006 by Mr S Huntley.   She acknowledged that a question had been raised during the site visit about the exact boundary of the southern part of the application site and informed the Panel that this question would be thoroughly addressed at the earliest opportunity.

(6)       The Public Rights of Way and Commons Registration Officer said that the application had been accompanied by 85 user evidence questionnaires together with supporting correspondence and the view from Lyminge Parish Council that the application passed all the necessary tests.

(7)       Objections had been received from Cripps Harries Hall Solicitors on behalf of the Tory Family Foundation which owned the land.  The grounds for objection were that the application had not specified its neighbourhood or locality within the neighbourhood; that use had been infrequent; that use had been “by right” on the Public Right of Way; that use had been interrupted during the summer of 2010 by the archaeological dig which had resulted in the site being cordoned off; and that there had not been sufficiently general for the landowner to realise that a public right was being asserted.

(8)       The Public Rights of Way and Commons Registration Officer then considered the legal tests.  The first of these was whether use of the land had been “as of right.”  It was clear that neither force nor secrecy had been used to access the site.  Although fencing had been erected, this had been a recent development and could not form part of the Panel’s considerations of this particular test.  There had, however, been a few occasions when the landowner had stated that permission had been granted for certain specific events.  The applicant, on the other hand contended that even though permission had been granted on occasion, this did not apply to informal recreational use and therefore did not negate the general assertion by the public of “as of right” use. The landowner had also contended that much of the use of the land had been “by right” walking of the Public Right of Way. 

(9)       The Public Rights of Way and Commons Registration Officer said that the use “as of right”  ...  view the full minutes text for item 18.

(1)       Members of the Panel visited the site prior to the meeting. The visit was attended by Mrs C Le Jeune (Wickhambreaux Parish Council - applicant), Mr. J. Holdstock (Tenant Farmer) and Mr C Perkins (one of the affected landowners). Some 40 members of the public were also present at the visit.

(2)       Mr M J Northey was present for this item pursuant to Committee Procedure Rule 2.21.  

(3)       Mrs C Le Jeune (Chairman of Wickhambreaux Parish Council - applicant) and Mr C Perkins (landowner) were present for this item together with some 30 members of the public.

(4)       The Public Rights of Way and Commons Registration Officer introduced the application which had been made under section 15 of the Commons Act 2006 by Wickhambreaux Parish Council.   This application had been accompanied by 115 user evidence forms as well as letters of support from Ickham and Well Parish Council (whose boundaries accommodated some of the site);  the Local Member, Mr Northey; the local City Councillor; Ickham, Littlebourne and Wickhambreaux Conservation Society; Wickhambreaux CEP School; and Wickhambreaux Village Hall Management Committee.   These letters all stated that use of the application site had been without restriction for many generations by local people.

(5)       The Public Rights of Way and Commons Registration Officer then said that the land had originally been owned by the Church Commissioners before being auctioned and sold to 4 separate landowners in 2009. All four landowners had objected to the application. One of them (Mr Locke from the Premier Trust) had stated that the land had not been accessed at the times during the year when it had been used for grazing.  Mr and Mrs Perkins had stated that use had been by virtue of permission and that non-permitted access had been challenged by the Tenant farmer during the grazing season. Three local residents had also disputed the user evidence. In addition, Mr J Holdstock (the tenant farmer since 1991) had said that use of the site had not been significant and had mainly consisted of people using the Public Right of Way in the north east corner of the site or the path on the north bank of the River Stour.  He had also stated that the site had been closed off during the Foot and Mouth epidemic in 2001.

(6)       The Public Rights of Way and Commons Registration Officer went on to consider the legal tests.  The first of these was whether use of the land had been “as of right”.  Whilst it was clear that neither force nor secrecy had been employed to gain access, there was an objection which claimed that use had been with permission.  The landowner had claimed that permission had been granted for a number of events. The applicant’s response to this was that such permission had not been sought for general recreation.  The question for the Panel to consider was whether permission had been communicated to the community as a whole. This did not appear to be the case.   Objection had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 19.