Corfe Mullen campaigners lose six-year battle over woodland – BBC News
‘A group of villagers has lost a six-year battle with a landowner over public access to a woodland.’
BBC News, 13th October 2022
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Category: rights of way
Fears over right to roam in England as ministers wind up review – The Guardian
‘The government has quashed a review into the right to roam in England’s countryside, amid anger from campaigners that the law of trespass stops people from walking freely around the country.’
The Guardian, 20th April 2022
Source: www.theguardian.com
Churchyard access and prescriptive right of way: Hughes – Law & Religion UK
‘In Hughes v Incumbent of the benefice of Frampton-on-Severn, Arlingham, Saul, Fretherne & Framilode [2021] UKUT 184 (LC), the incumbent of St James’s Saul, one of the churches in the Severnside group of parishes in Gloucestershire, applied to HM Land Registry in 2018 for a vehicular right of way for the benefit of the church over land belonging to the neighbouring property, a former school site next to the church. It was claimed that the track had been used by successive incumbents and their visitors – visiting clergy, people tending graves, and the funeral director – for more than twenty years for access to the grass where vehicles parked to gain access to the churchyard and church [7]. The neighbouring owners, Mr and Mrs Hughes (who had bought the property from the previous owners, Mr and Mrs West), objected, the matter was referred to the First Tier Tribunal pursuant to s.73(7) Land Registration Act 2002, and the FTT directed the registrar to register the easement [1]. Mr and Mrs Hughes appealed.’
Law & Religion UK, 10th August 2021
Source: lawandreligionuk.com
Research Briefing: Land law: frequently asked questions (England & Wales) – House of Commons Library
‘This Commons briefing paper gives an overview of some commonly raised issues about land law.’
House of Commons Library, 8th June 2021
Source: commonslibrary.parliament.uk
Lionel Jeffrey Cozens-Smith v Bellway Homes Limited [2019] EWHC 3222 (Ch) – Tanfield Chambers
‘An application for the approval of reserved matters does not amount to a new application for planning permission.’
Tanfield Chambers, 28th May 2020
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
Covid-19 and claimed rights of way: lessons from R (on the application of Roxlena Ltd) v Cumbria County Council & Peter Lamb [2019] EWCA Civ 1639 – Landmark Chambers
‘A claim of a public right of way under section 31(1) of the Highways Act 1980 requires use by the public as of right and without interruption for 20 years. Similarly, a claimed private right of way by prescription under the Prescription Act 1832 requires 20 years’ uninterrupted use. To make good a prescriptive claim, whether under the 1832 Act, by the doctrine of lost modern grant or at common law, the use must be of such a character, degree and frequency as to indicate an assertion of a continuous right. The issue we discuss is whether an interruption to use as a result of Covid-19 would count for either of these two purposes.’
Landmark Chambers, 3rd April 2020
Source: www.landmarkchambers.co.uk
Public footpath rerouted after two year legal battle because ramblers kept walking through nudist campsite – Daily Telegraph
‘A public footpath is to be rerouted following a two-year battle by a nudist campsite to stop ramblers wandering through the grounds.’
Daily Telegraph, 26th January 2020
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Signing Off and Signatures in the Digital Age: Neocleous & Anor v Rees [2019] EWHC 2462 (Ch) – Hardwicke Chambers
‘Section 2(1) of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 (‘the 1989 Act’) provides that a contract for the sale or other disposition of an interest in land can only be made in writing. Under section 2(3), the documents incorporating the terms must be signed by or on behalf of each party to the contract.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 15th October 2019
Source: hardwicke.co.uk
Couple unable to sell home after discovering public footpath running though living room – The Independent
‘Couple unable to sell home after discovering public footpath running though living room.’
The Independent, 13th March 2019
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Council wins challenge to decision that right of way was ‘byway open to all traffic’ – Local Government Lawyer
‘Slough Borough Council has won a High Court challenge to an inspector’s decision that a right of way should be open as a ‘byway open to all traffic’ (BOAT).’
Local Government Lawyer, 6th August 2018
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Council defeats challenge to decision to add 34 footpaths to definitive map – Local Government Lawyer
‘A county council has successfully defended a judicial review challenge to a committee decision authorising the making of a statutory order which, subject to confirmation, would add at least 34 footpaths and a bridleway to the definitive map and statement for the area.’
Local Government Lawyer, 1st December 2017
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Lea v Ward [2017] EWHC 2231 (Ch) – Tanfield Chambers
‘The High Court held that the most natural reading of a deed granting a right of way “over the track or way” was to limit the right of way to the track that was actually in use at the time of the grant in 1979. The claim concerned the existence, location and in particular, the width of a right of way. The Claimant sought injunctions and damages for interference.’
Tanfield Chambers, 12th October 2017
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
Property Litigation Blog: The path from Figsbury Ring to Gore – Hardwicke Chambers
‘Andrew Skelly, of Hardwicke Chambers, considers the courts’ approach to easements, particularly the use of rights of way where the dominant tenement owner acquires additional land.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 14th August 2017
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
Mooring Rights – Falcon Chambers
‘Mooring involves attaching a boat to the bed or to the bank of a river. So the first stage of the analysis involves establishing who owns the bed and/or the bank.’
Falcon Chambers, October 2016
Source: www.falcon-chambers.com
Public right of way did not detract from use of land as village green, High Court rules – OUT-LAW.com
‘The High Court has upheld the registration of Humpty Hill in Oxfordshire as a town or village green (TVG), despite arguments that most of the walking that took place on the land was because it was a public right of way.’
OUT-LAW.com, 7th November 2016
Source: www.out-law.com
Retired businessman loses battle with archaeological society over ‘plebeian’ tour groups spoiling his elevenses – Daily Telegraph
‘A retired businessman has lost his battle with a local archaeological society after complaining about “plebeian” members of historical tour groups spoiling his elevenses.’
Daily Telegraph, 31st July 2016
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
How can a right of way be simultaneously continuous and non-continuous? – Hardwicke Chambers
‘In Wood v Waddington [2015] EWCA Civ 538, at first instance, Morgan J. found the Claimants had not established they had rights of way over the Defendant’s land. Lewison L.J. (with whom Richards and McCombe L.J.J. agreed) thought otherwise. The case raises some nice points in respect of easements.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 7th July 2016
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
Winterburn and another v Bennett and another – WLR Daily
Winterburn and another v Bennett and another [2016] EWCA Civ 482
‘The claimant owners of a fish and chip shop claimed as a result of use over a number of years to have acquired by prescription the right for themselves and others using their premises to park on land comprising part of a car park belonging to the defendants. The defendants’ premises, which were next to the car park, had been used as a club and users of those premises used the car park. The entrance to the car park was adjacent to the claimants’ shop. The claimants had operated the shop from about 1987 or 1988 until 2012. Throughout that time, their suppliers had up to nine times a week pulled off the road into the disputed part of the car park and parked there for long enough to make their deliveries, and their customers had parked on the disputed land while they bought their fish and chips. On the whole that use of part of the car park did not interfere with the s’ operations but over a seven-year period there were 12 to 15 occasions on which the defendants asserted ownership of the disputed land, and, expressly or impliedly, asserted that the claimants and their suppliers and customers had no right to park on it. At all times until 2007 there was a sign attached to the wall of the building on one side of the entranceway to the car park, erected on behalf of the defendants, stating “Private car park. For the use of Club patrons only. By order of the Committee”, and a similar sign in the window of the club premises. The claimants claimed that their right to park, acquired by prescription by “lost modern grant”, had been established by their 20 years’ uninterrupted user “as of right”, namely, without force, without secrecy and without permission. The First-tier Tribunal found that, although the two signs were clearly visible, they were insufficient to prevent the claimants from acquiring the claimed parking rights. The Upper Tribunal allowed the defendants’ appeal, reversing that finding.’
WLR Daily, 25th May 2016
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Ramblers celebrate after landmark High Court ruling that could see up to 1,000 former rights of way re-open – The Independent
‘Up to 1,000 rights of way could be re-established centuries after they stopped being recorded on maps after a landmark High Court ruling.’
The Independent, 2nd July 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
