Application to Register Land at Tweedmouth Green, Dock Road, Tweedmouth, as a Town or Village Green
Report by:
Borough Solicitor
Ward Implications:
Edward Ward
1
Summary
1.1
Council notified of application to register land at Dock Road, Tweedmouth, as Town or Village Green.
1.2
Council owner of land concerned
1.3
Council invited to make representation/raise objection
2
Recommendation
2.1
To raise no representation or objection to the application to register land at Tweedmouth Green, Dock Road, as a town or village green.
3
Report
3.1
An application has been received by Northumberland County Council, under section 15 of the Commons Act 2006, to register land, referred to in the application as Tweedmouth Green, as a town or village green. The Council as landowners have been notified of the application and have been invited to submit any representations or objections it might have by the 12th September 2007. The land, the subject of the application, is shown hatched on the plan attached to the Agenda.
3.2
Substantial evidence of use of the land ‘as of right’ for lawful sports and pastimes by local residents for a period of 20 years between April 1987 and April 2007 (the date of the application) accompanies the application, a full copy of which is available for inspection within the Legal and Democratic Services Unit.
3.3
Under the Commons Act 2006 any person may apply to a commons registration authority to register land 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 continue to do so at the time of the application.
3.3
The case law in respect of matters pertaining to town and village greens has changed considerably in the last number of years and while the Council were successful in opposing a similar application at Newfields, Berwick-upon-Tweed, in 2002, officers believe that it would not be possible to sustain a successful objection to this application even if members were minded so to do.
