Content area
Full Text
Town or village green Registration
Supreme Court
Lord Neuberger, president, Lady Hale, deputy president, Lord Sumption, Lord Carnwath and Lord Hodge
25 February 2015
Town or village green - Registration - Commons Act 2006 - Registration of beach as town or village green under section 15(4) of 2006 Act - Whether public using beach "as of right" for recreation - Whether byelaws made by appellant landowner amounting to implied permission precluding use "as of right" - Whether registration under 2006 Act incompatible with statutory purpose for which appellant holding land as port authority - Appeal allowed
In December 2010, the first respondent council approved an application by the second respondent to register a tidal beach in Newhaven as a town or village green (TVG), pursuant to section 15 of the Commons Act 2006, on the ground that it had been used by local inhabitants as of right for a period of 20 years up to April 2006. The use had ceased at that date when the appellant, which owned the beach, had fenced it offfrom public access. The appellant was the harbour authority for Newhaven port and had various statutory functions in relation to the maintenance and operation of the port, including the power to make byelaws regulating its use.
The decision to register was quashed on an application by the appellant but was reinstated on an appeal in which the secretary of state participated as...