The Battle for Broxhead Common
Part of the unauthorised enclosed 80 acres
The Case for Hampshire County Council – PART 91
- It begs the question as to why Hampshire County Council, who had been supporting the Broxhead Commoners by sharing the court costs with them, had now about turned to support Mr Whitfield’s cause. This was to possess not only the fenced 80 acres of Broxhead Common but the whole common.
- HCC said that the Chief Commons Commissioner had split the Common into east and west, which after the High Court Appeal left just the Rights of Mr Connell on the East side. He had not of course and certainly had no jurisdiction to do so.
- During his assessment of the modern common rights claims, for ease of reference only, he identified the common as being east or west of the B3004, a road which runs between Sleaford and Lindford. West of this road the Common was vested with the MOD. They had withdrawn their objection to rights of common because of the historical evidence produced. East of the road Mr Whitfield now claimed to own, and he had objected to the registration of the Common land and the rights over that part of it.
- The Judge in the High Court would do much the same as the Chief Commons Commissioner, by labelling the common A, B, C, D. Sadly, this identification process seems to have led to the belief by some, that the common could be split in two based on ownership. That was certainly not the case as is made clear in the Rights Decision
- That mistake led on to another, which was to assume that the Rights applied only to the West side. Such assumption suited Mr Whitfield’s cause well because if he could dispose of Rights of Common, he thought he could reclaim all the land he claimed to own, for his own use.
- However, the judgement of Brightman J should have resolved that anomaly as right from the start he makes it clear that he is hearing a case about the recent Common Rights claims and the common is already registered on the documented ancient manorial rights.
Next time: the mistakes keep coming