Society still bidding to open green area

The land in Holt has been at the centre of an on-going dispute between the Open Spaces Society and a property-holder who claims to have had no knowledge of it being registered "common-land" when it was purchased.

But the County council concluded there is: "insufficient public benefit in taking further action" - much to the dismay of campaigners.

Rodney Legg, chairman of the Open Spaces Society, said: "We cannot understand how councillors can claim there is insufficient public benefit to removing fences which blight this important area of land.

Mr Legg hopes the Commons Bill, currently going through Parliament, will give the public power to take enforcement action against unlawful works on common land.

He added: "Once the Bill becomes law we shall have to see whether the Open Spaces Society does have the power to take action on behalf of the public. If we do have the power, we shall use it at God's Blessing Green.

"It is outrageous that it should be left to a small ill-resourced charity to act in the public interest when that is the job of Dorset County Council."

The owners of the property say the fencing is actually on the border between the highway and the common land and in front of established hedging with no point of access through it from the roadside or footpath.

Dorset County Council principal solicitor Gillian Parkinson said the cost of taking enforcement action could be up to £10,500 and unless rights of common existed on September 1, 1926, when the Law of Property Act 1925 came into force, the council has no such power.

She added: "The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 gave the public rights to walk over the area, but this right has been restricted because the owner's house is within 20 metres of the common land and forms part of her garden.

"This means an exception applies under the Act which will restrict the public's right to walk over the common land."

First published: August 29