The Battle for Broxhead Common
The Case for Hampshire County Council – PART 18
- In the meantime, while waiting for HCC’s Order to come to Public Inquiry for the third time on:
- 25th March 1991, a decision with regards to ownership of various parts of the common land, is received by John Ellis, from Commons Commissioner, Martin Roth.
Broxhead OWNERSHIP registration 1991 Page 1-6 20092020
- There are several points of interest in this report.
- Bottom of first page: The Commissioner states: “The Land section and the Rights section were confirmed with numerous modifications after many days of hearings before Chief Commons Commissioner Mr George Squibb in 1974. The history of the land is gone into at length in Mr Squibb’s Decision No.2 dated 22nd November 1974.”
- Bottom of first page: The Commissioner states: “The Land section and the Rights section were confirmed with numerous modifications after many days of hearings before Chief Commons Commissioner Mr George Squibb in 1974. The history of the land is gone into at length in Mr Squibb’s Decision No.2 dated 22nd November 1974.”
- Note the date and complete absence of any mention of anything appertaining to the removal of 80 acres of Broxhead Common from the Register!
- On page 2, in dealing with Mr Whitfield’s claim it states that: “the plan is not too easy to reconcile with the Register Map which is on a much smaller scale,” and on page 5 paragraph 3, “the plan prepared by the County Council was on such a minute scale that it is impossible to tell therefore how much of Mr Jeffree’s land was excluded from the Common.”
- It is also striking that from the list of documents produced as proof of ownership for Mr Whitfield, there is no sign of the Consent Order from the Court of Appeal!? This must be the only time that it has not been shown as evidence, that because the Hampshire County Council rent the rest of the common land from him, he must be the owner. Maybe the reason for its absence is that the Commons Commissioner would have interpreted the terms of the Consent Order correctly and asked to see the consent from the Secretary of State for the retention of the fencing. He may even have asked why HCC were renting land when there was no registered owner!
- On page 2, in dealing with Mr Whitfield’s claim it states that: “the plan is not too easy to reconcile with the Register Map which is on a much smaller scale,” and on page 5 paragraph 3, “the plan prepared by the County Council was on such a minute scale that it is impossible to tell therefore how much of Mr Jeffree’s land was excluded from the Common.”
NEXT TIME: Were Hampshire County Council just mistaken in what they were doing or was it a deliberate attempt to collaborate or conspire in the theft of 80 acres of Broxhead Common?