Agenda item

Report of the Managing Director

The Managing Director submitted a report (previously circulated) to put in place a procedure for the determination of applications to make corrections to an entry in the Register of Village Greens.

The submitted report stated that the Constitution delegated decisions regarding the determination of new applications for inclusions on the Register of Village Greens (under the Commons Act 2006) to the Assistant Director Law and Governance, and that if an objection is received an independent Inspector is appointed to determine the application, however it was highlighted that the Constitution does not provide for the determination of other applications regarding village greens, such as applications to add or remove land from the register where the applicant believes that a mistake was made in registration.

Following a request for clarification by a Member, the Assistant Director Law and Governance confirmed that, in the case of contested matters, or matters which require oral representations or an inquiry, the entry in the Scheme of Delegation in relation to the appointment of an Independent Inspector should read ‘shall’ and not ‘may’ as detailed in the appendix to the submitted report.

RESOLVED - (a) That the current entry in the Scheme of Delegation be amended to read:

‘Determining applications affecting the registers of commons and village greens (under the Commons Act 2006 and any subsequent legislation) – Assistant Director Law and Governance. In the case of contested matters, or matters which require oral representations or an inquiry, an Independent Inspector shall be appointed to determine the application.’

and that this amendment take effect from 1 October 2020.

(b) That the Assistant Director, Law and Governance is delegated to update the Constitution to reflect the changes identified.

REASONS – (a) To enable decisions to be taken effectively and in a timely manner as set out in the Commons Act 2006 (‘the Act’) and the Commons Registration (England) Regulations 2014 (‘the Regulations’).

(b) To ensure that the Constitution is accurate and up-to-date.