Common land deregistration, Cumbria

We were instructed by the Open Spaces Society to assist in opposing applications made by the Ministry of Defence to Cumbria County Council to deregister around 4,500 hectares of common land in Cumbria. Whilst most of the applications were approved, some of the land was retained as common land and the Inspector made a number of useful findings for the future protection of common land.

The applications received a large number of objections and a public inquiry took place to consider the applications and address several complex and important issues of law that were raised by the applications. The Council’s Development Control and Regulation Committee ultimately resolved to adopt the conclusions of the Inspector and accepted all but one of the applications to deregister the common land, but a small area of Murton Common called ‘Area Victor’ was excluded from the decision and as such retained its status as common land. Our client decided against applying for judicial review of the Council’s decision as the Inspector made a number of helpful findings. First, the Inspector endorsed our client’s argument that in determining whether land is ‘wasteland of a manor’, one must look behind the legal instrument of tenancy to the actual use of the land in question. Secondly, the Inspector found that grazing licences were insufficient to demonstrate ‘occupation’ as required for deregistration.

George Laurence QC and Ross Crail of New Square Chambers acted as counsel for The Open Spaces Society and appeared at the inquiry.