The Battle for Broxhead Common
Broxhead Common at Picketts Hill
The Case for Hampshire County Council – PART 96
- Both Commoners and locals, were told by Hampshire County Council, that to save further expensive legal action they had come to a settlement with Mr Whitfield which was now an Order by the Court of Appeal.
This varied from time to time to being an order of the High Court or if one checks their Land registration sheet, as being an order by the Chief Commons Commissioner. (see Part 88 Question 1 this series). - The problem was that HCC carried out the terms of the Schedule EXCEPT for the application for the fencing around the 80 acres. They then said that as there were only two commoners with rights registered on the east side of the Sleaford-Lindford Road and one of those had been denied at the High Court hearing, it left Mr Connell as the only commoner on the east side. He had then sold his rights over the 80 acres to Mr Whitfield for a considerable sum of money meaning the enclosed land was no longer common land!!
- This was profoundly false information but, in those days, we were encouraged to think that the professional opinions of the Local Authority were reliable. Even so, this outcome was not adding up and questions would for evermore continue to be asked. The Commoner’s themselves were among the first to interrogate.
- 19th October 1978, Mr and Mrs Nicholson were very distressed that their ancient manorial rights appeared to have been curtailed by confining them to the west of the Sleaford/Lindford Road. They sought an explanation from the Prime Minister of the day Mrs Margaret Thatcher.
1978 October Nicholson to Prime Minister_000040 - 18th January 1980, as expected, the correspondence was passed to the Department of Environment for clarification. Much correspondence ensued until eventually the DOE realised what the problem really was and on the 31st January 1980, they sent a reassuring letter to the Nicholson’s explaining how the common was protected in law and how of course their rights extended over the whole of it.
1979 Broxhead reg to Mrs Nicholson24022020
1980 DOE to Nicholson 31st Jan. 1980
The heather on Broxhead Common
Next time: Criminal