The Open Spaces Society(1) is pleased that Swansea City and County Council has withdrawn its application to deregister common land(2) at Tutts Head, Bracelet Bay, Mumbles. This is a popular beauty-spot, and deregistration would have made the land vulnerable to development.
The council had applied to itself to deregister the land on the basis that the land was mistakenly registered as common. However, prompted by the society’s objection, the council did further research and recognised that it had made an error and that the land was indeed correctly registered as common land.
Says Hugh Craddock, one of the society’s case officers:
‘We are relieved that the council has discovered that this land is correctly registered as common. This means that it will remain on the register and be safe from development and encroachment. It is vital that we protect and retain our ancient commons. Tutts Head is a prominent feature in the landscape and we are delighted that it has been saved.’
(1) The Open Spaces Society was founded in 1865 and is Britain’s oldest national conservation body. It campaigns to protect common land, village greens, open spaces and public paths, and people’s right to enjoy them.
(2) Common land is land subject to rights of common, to graze animals or collect wood for instance, or waste land of the manor not subject to rights. The public has the right to walk on all commons, and to ride on many, including Tutts Head. Commons are protected in that works on common land require the consent of Welsh Ministers, via Planning and Environment Decisions Wales, under section 38 of the Commons Act 2006. This is in addition to any planning permission which might be needed.
The council proposed to deregister the common under paragraph 7 of schedule 2 to the Commons Act 2006 on the grounds that it ought not to have been registered under the Commons Registration Act 1965 due to an error. On further research it discovered that the common was subject to a scheme of regulation and management under Part I of the Commons Act 1899 made in 1904, which were sufficient grounds for it to conclude that the land was indeed correctly registered. It then withdrew its application.
