Ownership Certificates for Common Land

Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

Open group | Started - July 2012 | Last activity - This week

Former Member, modified 9 Years ago.

Ownership Certificates for Common Land

During consideration of an appplication, it has emerged that the access crosses a strip of Common Land. The applicant does not own the land upon which the development is to take place thus the application was accompanied by owenrship Certificate B. According to the ownership section of the Register of Common land the strip of land which the access crosses was put under the protection of section 9 of the Commons Registration Act 1965, by the Commons Commissioner on 2nd July 1976 who decided that he was not satisfied that any person was the owner of the land. The entire site is clearly not owned by the applicant or the party upon whom notice has been served and, for this reason, notwithstanding that there appears to be no owner of part of the land, I and my colleagues are of the opinion that Certificate C would be more appropriate, with a press notice to allow any party who may consider themselves to have any rights over the land to come forward.

Has anyone else encountered a similar situation, and can anyone offer any advice in relation to ownership certificates where common land is involved?

Former Member, modified 9 Years ago.

RE: Ownership Certificates for Common Land

Hi Della,

I agree that Cert B is not appropriate. No land in England is truly not owned by anyone. The chain of ownership can become lost over the years but is is likely that someone, (who probably doesn't know it) is the successor in title to the land. If not, the ownership would revert to the Crown.

It's not really a planning consideration, but the whole question of access over common land is a legal minefield. I assume that you are talking about vehicular access. There is a general prohibition of driving on common land (s.34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988). Owners of common land can however grant private easements, including vehicular rights of way, over common land but, in your case with the owner unknown, that isn't going to happen. Therefore, if the land doesn't already enjoy a vehicular right of way over the common land, the chances of gaining one are slim.

Following a House of Lords decision in 2004 (Bakewell Management Ltd v Brandwood and others) it is also possible to grain a right of way over common land by prescription.

If permission is granted, I suggest that you consider adding an informative to the decision notice drawing the applicant's attention to the potential acess problems. I also suggest that you discuss the matter with your legal colleagues.