Agenda item

There were no public speakers.

The Rights of Way Officer introduced the Town Green application, to allow consideration of the evidence submitted with an application made under Sections 15(1) and (3) of the Commons Act 2006, to register land adjacent to Vowley View and Highfold, Royal Wootton Bassett, as a Town Green. The Officer gave an overview of the planning history of the site, explaining that since 2002, there had been 4 planning applications, and that there was currently a further application on the land. It was explained that the land had been used by those in the community for various activities, over a number of years, until May 2015, when a gate that had been installed, along with a fence in 2006, was locked. A brief overview of the Legislation was given, namely Sections 15(1) and (3) of the Commons Act, whereby Land may be registered as a Town or Village Green where a significant number of inhabitants of any locality, or of any neighbourhood within a locality, have indulged as of right in lawful sports and pastimes on the land for a period of at least 20 years and they have ceased to do so, the application being made within one year of the cessation of user. The two objections were explained to the Committee. Firstly, regarding the timescales/validity of the application. Secondly, whether a planning trigger event was in place over the land, by reference to the Wiltshire Core Strategy document, which would extinguish the right to apply. Both objections had been raised by the landowner, as legal points against registration. However, Councillors were advised that the correct procedures had been followed in the application and the Council, as the Commons Registration Authority, were satisfied that the application was valid and there was no planning trigger event in place, on the date the application was submitted to the Council. It was noted that there was no challenge to the user evidence submitted with the application.

There were no technical questions.

Cllr Chris Hurst spoke as Local Member and gave his support to the application. He read out a statement from the applicant Mr Gosnell. Cllr Hurst spoke of the Council’s aims to build strong and resilient communities, and maintained that community green spaces were important in this respect. He also referred to his own experience of the area being used for community activities and said that it had been a community asset for many years. Cllr Hurst did, however, declare that he had already made statements in support of this application, and so declared that he would not vote in the application.

In the debate that followed, Cllr Tony Trotman proposed the Officer’s recommendation, which was for approval, this was seconded by Cllr Hutton, and approved by the Committee.

Resolved:

To GRANT the application to register land at Vowley View and Highfold, Royal Wootton Bassett, as a Town or Village Green, and to register the land in full under Sections 15(1) and (3) of the Commons Act 2006.