Track on common ‘unlawful under planning law’

Posted 30/04/2012

A track on a common is to be destroyed by a council as it is unlawful under planning law.Twyning Parish Council is planning to get rid of the track on Brockeridge Common, near Twyning, which allows vehicles to cross the common to fishing lakes next to Harbour Wood.Ewen Reynolds applied for planning permission to build the track, but the Open Spaces Society claims he did not get the green light to do so, reports the Gloucestershire Echo.Twyning Parish Council chairman Jeremy Horsfall told the newspaper that local people are “concerned” about the situation, while a spokeswoman for the society described it as an “eyesore”.”Not only is it unlawful under planning law, it is also unlawful under common land law,” they said.Changes to planning law announced in the National Planning Policy Framework were recently welcomed by the British Property Federation, with chief executive Liz Peace describing the amendments by the coalition government as “sensible”.Posted by Charles Webb