Agenda and draft minutes

Commons and Town Greens Special Sub-Committee for VG105 - Tuesday, 19th March, 2013 10.00 am

Members of the public are welcome to attend our meetings to watch them in person at any of the venues across the County. Publicly accessible meetings held in County Hall will be webcast, which means they are available to be watched live or recorded on our website. Please see our webcasting notice here. The Committee may, in certain circumstances, resolve to hold part of the meeting in private. If this is the case, you will be required to leave the meeting.

Venue: Committee Room 'D' - The Henry Bolingbroke Room, County Hall, Preston. View directions

Contact: Josh Mynott 01772 534580 Email: josh.mynott@lancashire.gov.uk

Items
No.	Item
1.	Apologies Minutes: There were no apologies.
2.	Membership, Chair and Terms of Reference PDF 57 KB View item 2. as DOC 284 KB Additional documents: Appendix A , item 2. PDF 19 KB View as DOC (2./2) 88 KB Minutes: County Councillor De Molfetta nominated County Councillor Tony Jones as Chair of the Sub Committee. The nomination was seconded by County Councillor Peter Steen. Resolved :That The Terms of Reference, as set out in the report, be agreed County Councillor Tony Jones be appointed Chair of the Sub Committee
3.	Disclosure of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda. Minutes: None were disclosed.
4.	Commons Act 2006 The Commons Registration (England) Regulations 2008 Determination of a Village Green Application Ref No. VG105 relating to land at Bradley Lane Pond Field, Eccleston PDF 73 KB View item 4. as DOC 302 KB Additional documents: Appendix A , item 4. PDF 49 KB View as DOC (4./2) 86 KB Location Plan , item 4. PDF 420 KB Minutes: The Chairman introduced the item, explaining that the Sub Committee intended to listen to and consider the evidence and information presented at the meeting, asking such questions as they considered appropriate in accordance with the procedure set out in the Directions (Appendix 1 to the report) Present on behalf of the Objector were: Martin Carter, Counsel for the Objector David Forshaw, Planning Manager, Northern Trust, Landowner and Objector Mike Pocock, Partner, Pinsent Masons for the Objector Elizabeth Wiseman, Solicitor, Pinsent Masons for the Objector It was reported that there was a preliminary issue to resolve, being the status of the Applicant's 'application to withdraw', on the basis of a letter received from the Applicant indicating his wish to withdraw the Application. A copy of the letter and related correspondence was circulated and added to the Applicant's Bundle at document 7. The Objector was invited to make representations on the status of the application to withdraw. The Objector requested that the Sub Committee treat the Application as withdrawn making reference to paragraph 7.13 of Defra's "Guidance to commons registration authorities and the Planning Inspectorate for the pioneer implementation" issued September 2011 ("Defra's guidance") and to the case of Oxfordshire County Council v Oxford City Council and another and others ("Trap Grounds case") as referred to at paragraph 7.13.5. The Chairman then adjourned the meeting to enable the Sub Committee to consider the status of the 'application to withdraw'. On resumption of the meeting, the Chairman advised that: It was confirmed that the second Applicant, Eccleston Parish Council had resolved to withdraw its previous support for VG105 in March 2012; The Applicant was merely withdrawing witnesses and himself from the Hearing only and that there was no reference of the other 16 user forms in support of the Application. Moreover, there was no indication in the application to withdraw that the applicant was withdrawing any of his evidence submitted in support. Therefore, although the applicant was not present at the hearing, all the written evidence remains submitted and would be duly taken into account. In accordance with Defra's guidance the Sub Committee considered it in the public interest to determine a duly made application so that the status of the land is clarified. Application to withdraw was given with short notice (1.5 days prior to the commencement of the Hearing. It was considered that no prejudice was caused to the Objector. The Objector was advised that the Hearing was more likely to proceed on the day. For these reasons, the Sub Committee considered that the application should not be treated as withdrawn and that the Sub Committee would listen to and consider the evidence and information presented at the meeting and would ask such questions as considered appropriate. The Chairman then confirmed that the Hearing would continue to follow the procedure set out in the Directions and that a decision would be made at a later meeting having received a further report and officer recommendation before determining ... view the full minutes text for item 4.
5.	Date of Next Meeting The next meeting of the Sub-Committee has been scheduled to be held on Friday 26 April 2013 at 10.00a.m at County Hall Preston. Minutes: The next meeting of the Commons and Town Greens Special Sub Committee for VG105 is scheduled to be held on Friday 26 April in Cabinet Room D at County Hall, Preston, commencing at 10:00am.