BCC Minutes – 29 August 07
Present:
John Gundry (JG); Mike Harris (MH); John Horton(JH); Caroline Jones (CJ); Clive Myatt(CM);TomSumner(TS);Sylvia Tilford (ST); Mike Walker(MW)
In the chair:
Bruce Speed (BS)
1.Apologies for absence:
Peter Jenkins (PJ)
2. Burley House Field
The sole purpose for the meeting was to discuss whether or not to make a third application for village green status for the field. BS recapped the history of applications to date and the result of these.
Following changes in the law Nigel Clayton, our barrister, had reviewed our position and has communicated to say (June 7th 2007) that a third application could be considered.
Following the Commons Act of 2006 there is now a new scheme for registration . There are two changes which are significant for our application.
Some low level haymaking is no longer inconsistent with village green status and the user now has to continue down to the date of application, not registration. It is open to us to make a 20 year case on use of the field within a 30 year period from 1974. Any third application would need to be made by the end of 2008, but probably by August 2008 on the strictest interpretation.
Since the time of the decision on the second application there has been the BMDC decision (reported in earlier minutes) that Burley Parish Council should be given a lease on the field.
The substance of these comments was reported to the Neighbourhod Forum in June and JG reported to the Committee a sense from that meeting that a third application should be made. CJ then went on to report that a meeting had been held recently with BMDC to discuss a 99 year lease on the field as recreational open space at a peppercorn rent. There are some activities which may be proposed for the field (eg community gardens) which are not compatible with village green status. If a 99 year lease was obtained an argument could, therefore, be made against making a third application. On the other hand village green status could provide the strongest defence against any future development on the field.
CJ also reported the request from Richard Schofield (RS), Senior Property Services Officer in Asset Management,BMDC, for a copy of the communication from the barrister. JG agreed to ask Nigel Clayton.
Some information had been received that the farmer who holds the current tenancy might be willing to relinquish it earlier but RS was unaware of this.
Following discussion it was agreed that there were three alternatives at the current time:
To leave the decision until January
To make a decision at the meeting to proceed to a third application
To decide against a third application and pursue the lease only
After discussion it was agreed that a decision on whether to make a third application should be postponed until the end of January. This would give the Parish Council some time to negotiate a lease. In the light of the results from the negotiations a decision would then be made about the third application. It was emphasised that if the lease situation is still unclear in January BCC could not delay its decision further.
JG expected to be contacted by the Ilkley Gazette which has expressed interest in knowing the decision from the meeting.
3.Any other business
BS reported that BWCT would be starting Christmas lights preparations very soon. A meeting with the Chamber of Trade to discuss the future of the Christmas Market and responsibilities for this had still be to be arranged. A date would be made available at the BWCT meeting to be held on September 12th.
4. Date of the next meeting:
to be notified
Sylvia Tilford
Hon Secretary