Issue - meetings

The Executive Member for Regeneration and Director of Regeneration and Culture submitted a report for the Executive’s consideration. The purpose of the report was to request approval to submit an application seeking the voluntary registration of land at The Avenue, Nunthorpe as a Village Green.

The Avenue site was a Council owned open space of 2.74 Ha (6.76 acres). It was used for informal recreation and formed a valuable amenity space serving the Nunthorpe community. The site was protected as primary open space within the Council’s Local Plan (2014). In recognition of the importance of the open space to the local community, approval was now sought to voluntarily designate the site as a Village Green.

Section 15(8) of the Commons Act 2006 made provision for landowners to voluntarily seek to have their land registered as Village Green if they so wished. The process for doing so involved submitting to the registration authority the required application form, with accompanying site plan and a statutory declaration that the applicant was the landowner. The required application form and accompanying documentation had been included at Appendix 1 of the submitted report. An application for voluntary designation could not be rejected by the registration authority. The Council was the registration authority and any application for designation would need to be considered by the Licensing Committee.

Once registered as Village Green, the land would be protected from development or change. Registration of land as a Town or Village Green meant that the residents of the locality would have the right to use the land for lawful sports and pastimes.

OPTIONS

Two alternative options had been considered:

1.      to retain current designation and status of the land without Village Green registration; and

2.      that the land be designated as Local Greenspace in the forthcoming Local Plan review. Whilst that offered more protection than the current status of the land, the designation could have been removed via a subsequent review of the Local Plan.

ORDERED

That an application seeking the voluntary registration of land at The Avenue, Nunthorpe as a Village Green be approved.

REASON

The land at The Avenue, Nunthorpe was a valued open space resource that benefitted the local community. Village Green status recognised its importance and role in the local community and represented the most appropriate course to seek to protect it in perpetuity.