Agenda item

(1)       The Commons Registration Officer began her presentation by explaining that the land in question was owned by Ramsgate Town Council who wished to voluntarily register it as a Village Green. 

(2)       The Commons Registration Officer then explained that the Commons Act 2006 had introduced a provision which enabled land to be voluntarily registered if the owner applied and with the consent of any relevant leaseholder of, and the proprietor of any relevant charge, over the land.

(3)       The land consisted of some 1.45 acres of woodland.  Land Registry searches had revealed that it was wholly owned by the Town Council.

(4)       An objection to the application had been received from Mr S Berger who represented Samber Ltd. This was a registered charity, whose land lay north west of the application site.  The charity wished to rebuild the theological college which had once stood on the application site, having been built in the late 1860s and demolished in 1964. The land had been owned by Sir Moses Montefiore who had set up a trust in 1866 with guidelines as to the administration of the college and a strict prohibition on the sale of the land.  The Charity considered that Village Green status would conflict with its aim of rebuilding the college. It had therefore asked for the application to be amended so as to facilitate the reconstruction of the college. 

(5)       The Commons Registration Officer said that Mr Berger’s representations had been forwarded to the applicants for comment.  Ramsgate TC had taken the position that the trust had been superseded by various land transactions and that the Town Council was the current lawful landowner. 

(6)       The Commons Registration Officer said that she had taken advice from KCC Legal Services on the comments made by Mr Berger and on the Copy of the Register of Title.  The advice received had been that the land had been registered to Ramsgate TC and that there was no evidence to suggest that any error had been made in the registration.  Land Registry guaranteed the Town Council title to the land.  There was, therefore, no reason in respect of ownership for registration not to proceed as requested by the landowner.

(7)       The Commons Registration Officer concluded her presentation by saying that, having established that Ramsgate TC was the legal owner of the land, it was still necessary to establish that the land was situated in an identifiable locality. In this instance, the appropriate locality was the Ramsgate TC electoral ward of Sir Moses Montefiore.  She therefore recommended that the land should be formally registered as a Village Green.

(8)       Mr David Holder identified himself as a representative of Samber Ltd.  He explained that the charity wished to rebuild the theological college in respect of Sir Moses Montefiore’s wishes.  He had been a very famous philanthropist during the 19^th Century and it was very appropriate that his memory was preserved in this way.

(9)       Mr Holder said that Samber Ltd had only received the report a week before the meeting and that an adjournment was requested to enable a thorough examination of the legal aspects of the case. 

(10)     The Chairman ruled that Samber Ltd had been given sufficient time by the Commons Registration Officer to examine any aspect of the case they wished.  He noted that she had written to Mr Berger on 20 February 2014, inviting him to check the Land Registry records if he had any doubts about the land ownership question.  This had followed Mr Berger’s original letter of 4 September 2013. 

(11)     The Democratic Services Officer advised that the agenda had been published five clear working days ahead of the meeting in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Act.  The speaking procedures made clear that this was an opportunity for members of the public to set out what they felt was missing from or insufficiently stressed in the report, rather than for the introduction of new evidence. 

(12)     Mr Holder stated that, in his view, the application had not been properly made. He referred to the Commons (Registration of Town and Village Greens (Interim Arrangements) (England) regulations 2007 which required an application to be made on a Form 44 and to be accompanied by a statutory declaration. The Commons Registration Officer explained that the regulations referred to by Mr Holder had been superseded by the Commons Registration (England) Regulations 2008 as a result of Kent’s participation in the pioneer implementation of Part 1 of the Commons Act 2006. She confirmed that the application had been correctly made.

(13)     Mr Holder referred to the Copy of the Register of Title set out in Appendix C of the report. He noted that section A2 made an exception of the disused tunnel running underneath the land from the registration. He said that if, for any reason, it became necessary for work to be carried out on the tunnel, Village Green status for the land above would make it difficult to do so.

(14)     The Chairman ruled that this was not a matter that the Panel was entitled to consider. He added that he, nevertheless, did not believe that this question should be of concern, as the tunnel was disused and the entrances to it were not on the land in question.

(15)     Mr Holder then said that section C of the Copy of Register of Title made reference to both Custodian and Managing Trustees.  This implied that there was some doubt in respect of whether the Town Council fully owned the land.

(16)      The Commons Registration Officer referred to the advice from KCC Legal Services, which had been given in the light of both Mr Berger’s letter of 4 September 2013 and of the Copy of the Register of Title.

(17)     Mr S C Manion moved, seconded by Mr A D Crowther that the recommendations of the Head of Regulatory Services be agreed.

                                                Carried unanimously.

(18)     RESOLVED that the applicant be informed that the application to register the land known as Montefiore Woodland at Ramsgate has been accepted and that the land subject to the application be formally registered as a Village Green.