Ashfords Planning Team, through Gareth Pinwell, have been advising a Queens Counsel concerning an application made over 10 years ago to register an area of his farm land in Saltash as a Town and Village Green. The application was made to Cornwall Council by a Local Residents Association in Forder, Saltash.
The criteria to register a Town and Village Green is that the land has been used for a period of 20 years for lawful sports and pastimes as of right, by a significant number of a neighbourhood and locality. In this case there were written statements from over 200 local residents claiming use of the land.
Cornwall Council decided that the matter should be dealt with by means of an informal public inquiry. Gareth Pinwell was appointed by the Queens Counsel to represent him in the lead up to the inquiry and to conduct the advocacy at the three day hearing. This involved making opening statements, cross examination of witnesses and presenting evidence on behalf of the client, and closing submissions.
Cornwall Council appointed Douglas Edwards QC, a renowned expert on Town and Village Greens who was involved in recent Supreme Court Cases on Town and Village Greens as the Inspector for the Inquiry which was concluded last December. After hearing the evidence and submissions for the parties the Inspector published his report to Cornwall Council, recommending that the application be rejected as it did not provide evidence that it complied with the required statutory test. The Council agreed with his recommendation and rejected the application.
Gareth Pinwell said ‘it was a great case to be involved in, particularly in this specialist area of law. I am pleased for the client that the issue is now resolved.’
View the Inspector’s report.
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