Property

Village Greens, Commons and Manorial Rights

Landmark Chambers is uniquely well placed to offer advice and representation in claims relating to village greens, commons and manorial rights at all levels of seniority. Such claims often lie at the intersection of property, planning and public law, and our combined strength as leaders at the bar in all these fields allows us to provide clients with a truly comprehensive and authoritative view.

Overview

Landmark practitioners within our property, public and planning teams have considerable experience in issues relating to village greens, common land and manorial rights, with experience in advising clients and representing them in all the forums in which these issues arise, up to and including the Supreme Court.

Village Greens

This area has long been a specialism of many Landmark barristers, with experience available at all levels of seniority. Notwithstanding the legislative changes restricting applications for registration of new greens, it remains a very important regime with significant implications for both land owners/developers and the local community. Landmark barristers act in many cases in this area and work includes:

Advising and acting for applicants for TVG registration, including the preparation of evidence and demonstrating compliance with the statutory criteria, and presenting the case at a public inquiry
Advising land owners in respect of village green applications and how to avoid registration both by ensuring that any recreational use is not as of right or by reliance on a trigger event under section 15C and Schedule 1A of the Commons Act 2006
Drafting objections to and settling evidence in objection to an application and appearing at a public inquiry
Advising registration authorities with regard to village applications and resisting applications for judicial review which seek to quash decisions on applications to register land as a village green
Acting as independent Inspectors holding the non-statutory inquiry (e.g. the village green inquiry in relation to land outside the Willesden Green Library Centre; The Common/Brown’s Copse, Winterslow, Wiltshire)
Advising and acting in relation to applications to de-register exchange land under section 16 of the Commons Act 2006
Advising in relation to works on, or non-recreational use of, a village green, including rights of vehicular access
Advising and acting in relation to applications to rectify the register under section 14 of the Commons Registration Act 1965.

Examples of leading court cases in which Landmark members have been involved:

R (Strack) v Secretary of State for the Environment [2023] EWHC 655 (Admin), shortly to be heard by the Court of Appeal
TW Logistics v Essex CC [2021] AC 1050
R (Lancashire CC) v Secretary of State for the Environment [2019] UKSC 58
Wiltshire v Cooper Estates [2019] EWCA Civ 840
R (Day) v Shropshire Council [2019] EWHC 1539
R (Cotham School) v Bristol City Council [2018] EWHC 1022 (Admin)
Allaway v Oxford County Council [2016] EWHC 2677 (Admin)
R (Long Live Southbank) v London Borough of Lambeth CO/17042/2013
R (Allaway) v Oxfordshire City Council [2016] EWHC 2677
R (Newhaven Port and Properties Ltd) v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs [2014] EWCA Civ 673
R (Church Commissioners for England) v Hampshire CC [2014] EWCA Civ 63
Piper Land Developments (Solihull) Ltd v Rhondda Cynon Taf CBC [2012] EWHC 3111 (Ch)
Leeds Group Plc v Leeds City Council [2011] EWCA Civ 1447- compatibility of village green legislation with article 1 of the First Protocol.

Commons and Manorial Rights etc

Landmark practitioners regularly advise and represent clients in relation to common land and manorial rights. We act in many cases in this area and work includes:

Applications for de-registration and exchange of common land under section 16 of the Commons Act 2006;
Works on common land;
Acquisition of rights of common. A Landmark barrister acted in R (Littlejohns) v Devon CC [2016] QB 1092 which is the leading case on whether a right of common over land registered as common land can be acquired by prescription after 31 July 1970;
Advising as to the operation of the demesne of the manor as a potential ransom strip (the verges of unadopted roads in rural areas)
Disputes as to the ownership of sub-surface minerals, including customary rights to mine land
Disputes as to fishing rights
Acting for major landowners with extensive holdings of manorial rights
Darwall v. Dartmoor National Park Authority [2023] EWCA Civ 927 - whether the public’s right of access under s. 10 of the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 included a right of ‘wild camping’.