The Battle for Broxhead Common
Common land since time immemorial
The epic blow-by-blow story for riders’ rights, by Maureen Comber
I will be serialising the Story of the Battle for Broxhead Common from the beginning of the problems in 1963 when the owner of Headley Wood Farm, started fencing in the 80 acres of Broxhead’s common land, for it surely did not go unnoticed at the time and has been a cause of discontent ever since.
Broxhead Common has been identified as common land since time immemorial.
Says Maureen:
“In 2017 I made application under sec.19 Commons Act 2006 to correct the Register of Common Land because of ‘mistakes’ made by the Commons Registration Authority, which in this case was Hampshire County Council. (HCC). I knew that because of the ‘interest’ they have in Broxhead Common the matter could not be decided by them but would have to go to the Planning Inspectorate.”
The Case for Hampshire County Council – PART 139
The delayed start of the research and the two appeals have made it nine years since this claim was lodged. This must disadvantage the Claimants, who may not recall the required level of detail.
Furthermore, the Objectors were all the landowners or, in the case of HCC, the leaseholders of the land in question. They appeared to act in their own interest, not the public's.
Background Page 4 Para 19 “The County Council addressed the route in the two separate sections because it appeared from the applicant’s case that the arguments in relation to the two sections relied largely on different evidence”.
I have dealt with this under preliminary matters. Initially, the whole claim was mainly based on User Evidence; however, much historical evidence came to light during my extensive research for the PI. It showed that all the claimed path runs for its length over manorial waste and common land rented to HCC. Only the short section from the ‘turning circle’ on Baigents Hill to point F at Cradle Lane relies on ‘User’ evidence.
Para 20 “I consider this a sensible approach…………… I intend to adopt the same methodology …..” In this case, an explanation is called for as this directly conflicts with the Inspector’s observation in Para 11: “The appeal to the SOS concerned the route as a whole, and the Order has been made accordingly”.
So, indeed, the route should now be considered as a whole. This continual fiddling, splitting it up and re-numbering has caused so much confusion.
“The case for part of the route to the north of Picketts Hill, (Baigents Hill section) rests principally on user evidence, whilst that part to the south (Broxhead Common section) relies on a combination of documentary and user evidence. Furthermore the landowners involved are different: the Baigents Hill section is largely owned by Lithuanian House Ltd (LHL), with a small section owned by a Mr Hadfield; and the Broxhead Common section is principally owned by Mr Whitfield, although it now appears that the ownership of one part of it may still lie with the Lord of the Manor, a Mrs P Barnard.” Again, the Inspector has misguided herself. LHL own the land on the south side of Picketts Hill Road as far as point B on the Order Map (Broxhead Common section). Mr Whitfield owns from points B to D and A. This land is rented to HCC.
Please note that the decision is in Part 134
2009-12-11 Helen Slade decision
Next time: To be continued.
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