1. It had always seemed strange to me that Hampshire County Council were leasing part of Broxhead Common. They had been sharing the legal costs 50/50 with the Commoners in opposing the appeals by the purported landowner against the decision of the Chief Commons Commissioner which stated that the whole of Broxhead Common should be registered; there had also been consultation at the time with the local parish councils which had confirmed their hostility to any fencing on the common, so how and why had a lease come about and why had the unlawfully fenced 80 acres been excluded from it? There had certainly been no further consultation even with the commoners. They had just been presented with a copy of the lease dated from June 1978 and the Consent Order from the Court of Appeal, albeit with a page missing and told the CA had ordered it.

2. To better understand the peculiar outcome, I emailed the County Council’s Senior Solicitor and asked what the terms of the lease were.

3. 9th November 2005 the reply says the terms of the lease are as follows, “not to use or permit to be used the Common or any part thereof other than for a nature reserve within the meaning of section 15 of the [National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949] and for incidental use by the public for air and exercise”.
   2005 EMAIL from HCC Senior Solicitor re terms of lease04022021_0001

4. This reply only increased my curiosity because when objecting to my applications to improve access to Broxhead Common for horse riders, the officers of the Council had stated that the reason for their objection was that:
   2005 HCC C.Piper report to Reg Comm

5. “The settlement in the Court of Appeal in 1978, and the subsequent Lease Agreement between the landowner and the County Council, does not give horse riders a right of access on Broxhead Common. Although Broxhead Common is a registered common and therefore access land as defined by the Countryside & Rights of Way Act 2000, this status does not convey a right of access to horse riders. There is a right of open access for walkers only. Horse riders have a right of access for air and exercise to Metropolitan Commons but not to commons in rural districts as at Broxhead.”

6. So, the recent decision of Mark Yates was addressing the conundrum.
   
   

Next time: The questions continue.

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