Church Commissioners for England, R v Hampshire County Council & Anor
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
- LADY JUSTICE ARDEN
- LORD JUSTICE VOS
Areas of Law
- Property and Real Estate Law
2014
COURT OF APPEAL (CRIMINAL DIVISION)
United Kingdom
CORAM
AI Generated Summary
Mrs. Guthrie's application to register land as a Town or Village Green under the Commons Act 2006 was initially defective. Collins J ruled that corrections made within a reasonable period would relate back to the original filing date. On appeal, it was decided that while corrections could be applied retrospectively, the time Mrs. Guthrie took to correct the application was excessive, leading to the appeal being allowed.
Judgment
Lady Justice Arden:
Issues – effect of correction of application to register a TVG on application date and time that may be given for such correction
Applications (“TGVA”) to register land as a town or village green (“TVG”) under the Commons Act 2006 (“CA 2006”) must comply with certain regulations and be filed within specific time periods. There is a limited possibility of correction. In this case, Mrs Guthrie, the interested party in these proceedings, wished to register certain land at Bushfield Camp in Hampshire as a TVG. If an application is duly made, notice is given to the landowner, in this case the appellants (“the Church Commissioners”), and members of the public. They may object to registration of the TVG. If the application for registration is successful, use of the land is restricted to recreational use as a TVG, and the landowner therefore may not develop it.
Mrs Guthrie filed her application on 30 June 2008 with the registration authority, the respondent (“the Council”), but, as I explain below, it was defective in several respects. In his judgment dated 10 July 2013, now under appeal, Collins J held that a TVGA could as a matter of law be corrected and that if the corrections were made within a reasonable period the corrected TVGA would take effect from the filing date. The correctness of that ruling is the first issue on this appeal (“retrospectivity issue”).
Mrs Guthrie finally complied with all the requirements for applications on 20 July 2009. Collins J went on to hold that that was within a reasonable opportunity. The Church Commissioners now appeal from that ruling, and that issue (“reasonable opportunity issue”) is the second issue on this appeal.
If the Church Commissioners succeed on either issue, Mrs Guthrie will be too late to file a new application to register the land as a TVGA, and the Church Commissioners will be able to develop it, as they in fact wish to do in part.
In my judgment, on the facts, the judge’s ruling on the retrospectivity issue was plainly correct as a matter of statutory interpretation. However, on the reasonable opportunity issue I consider that what is a reasonable opportunity is ultimately a question of law for the court. The requirements for TVGAs represent a balance between the interest of the public and that of the landowner. That balance was struck by the time Mrs Guthrie had been given nine months to correct her application and help to complete it. Moreover she was warned that she had