Agenda item

1.      The Public Rights of Way and Commons Registration Officer introduced the report and explained that the Council had received two applications to amend the Register of Common Land in respect of rights of common at Higham Common. The first application sought to amend the Register to reflect a transfer of ownership of rights of common and the second application had been made under section 12 of the Commons Act 2006 in respect of the sale of those rights of common. The need for two separate applications (under different parts of the legislation) had arisen because the current registered owners of the rights of common were deceased and it was therefore necessary to update the Register (to record the beneficiaries of their estates), before those rights could formally be transferred to the purchaser.

2.      The Public Rights of Way and Commons Registration Officer explained that Schedule 3 of the Commons Act 2006 enabled applications to be made to reflect ‘historic events’ that had taken place prior to 1st October 2008 and Section 12 of the Commons Act 2006 enabled the transfer of ownership of any rights of common (after 1st October 2008) to be recorded in the Register of Common Land. Notices of the applications were published on the Council’s website and served on all owners of the rights of common listed in the Register for Higham Common and no objections were received.

3.      In determining an application under Schedule 3, the County Council must be satisfied either that the application has been made by the registered owner or that the person making the application has the capacity to apply. In this case, the applicant had provided evidence of the capacity to apply.

4.      The Council must also consider a fairness test set out in Regulation 42(5) of the 2014 Regulations, which states that: ‘the determining authority may not determine that a register entry should be amended if it considers that, by reason of reliance reasonably placed on the register by a person since 1st October 2011, it would be unfair to do so’. In this case, since this application related simply to an administrative update to the legal record, it was not considered that there were any issues relating to fairness.

5.      In respect of applications under section 12 of the Commons Act 2006, the Council must be satisfied that the person making the application had the capacity to apply. The applicant in this case was the transferee and, as such, the applicant was able to make the application to amend the register under the Commons Act 2006.

6.      The Council must also be satisfied that the current owners of the rights of common consent to the application. In this case, current owners had all confirmed their agreement to the transfer and all signed the formal Deed of Transfer.

7.      Following a question from Mr Cole The Public Rights of Way and Commons Registration Officer explained that the ownership of land was separate to the right to graze animals and the ownership section of the Register was now obsolete as there was no legal requirement for it to be kept up to date (the Land Registry now being the official source of land ownership information).

8.      The Chair put the motion set out in the report and it was agreed unanimously.

9.      RESOLVED that the County Council accepts the two applications (CAA26 and CAA27) to amend the Register of Common Land (to reflect the transfer of rights of common at Higham Common), and that the Register of Common Land for unit number CL86 be amended accordingly.