Town & Village Greens

• What type of paradigm is a Village green?

  Is more of a communitarian paradign: one that emphasises preserving common access to resources & goods
• What Paradigms of property are the opposite of the Communitarian paradigm?

  1. Dominant economic paradigms
  2. Individualist community relationship to property
• What is the meaning of Tragedy of the Commons by Hardin?

  = where a shared, limited resource becomes depleted as a result of each person’s inclination to satisfy their own self-interest for short-term gain at the expense of the long-term interest of the public good
• For Tragedy of the Commons, how does land become degraded?

  1. When one person acts in their own self-interests & adds a property to acquire more benefits (individual will have the full benefit of the additional pressure on the commons)
  2. Therefore, if many people increase the use of the Commons beyond its carrying capacity, the commons become degraded & cost of degradation is incurred to all the users
• What is the Tragedy of the anti-commons?

  = Very few exercise a right of exclusion, leading to resource deprivation through underuse
• What is the Comedy of the Commons?

  Where commons can therefore be economically & socially efficient because commoners are not just individuals who act for their own interests (they value their commons, which they take collective responsibility of)
• What is the meaning of a Town & Village Green?

  = Land which has been registered as a village green under the Commons Registration Act 1965 or Commons Act 2006
• How does the Commons Act 2006 protect a Village Green?

  The act protects the Green from any development or use which would interfere with the recreational use of the land by the local inhabitants
• How can a registration of a Village Green be a victory for inhabitants?

  Can provide a significant victory as it protects the rights of local inhabitants to continue to access land for recreational use
• What does s15 of the Commons Act 2006 define a Town & Village Green?

  = if it has a significant number of the inhabitants of a locality or a neighbourhood indulging as of right in lawful sports or pastimes on the land for a period of 20 years
• What is the L.P of Sunningwell? (where planning permission to build two houses was granted to build on the Glebe at Sunningwell)

  L.P: provided the elements stated in the 2006 Act on the requirements for a village green

  L.P: stated that the elements 'sports' & 'pastimes' needed for a VG are not two separate activities (are not two different classes of activities)
• What test is used to determine if inhabitants have an 'as of right'?

  = Nec Vi, Nec Clam, Nec Precario (Without Force, Without Stealth, and Without Permission)
• What does Nec Vi mean?

  = you have not used or threatened force
• What does Nec Clam mean?

  = you have not concealed your actions
• What does Nec Precario mean?

  = you have not used it on the assumption that you have been given permission
• Does Sunningwell state that non-locals can not be classed as Inhabitants of a locality?

  NO:

  Hoffman states that users do not just have to be inhabitants of the locality
• What is the L.P of Bresford? (where WDC held that they provided permission to local residents to use land by installing benches)

  L.P: passive acquiescence is not the equivalent of permission (usage can't be simply permission granted by presumed neighbourly toleration & owner's communication to provide permission must be obvious & overt for it to be 'by right')
• What is the L.P of Oxfordshire?

  L.P: allows rights to be conferred as a result of village green status (once the town & village green is registered, people can use the land for more activities than they used it before it was registered)

  
  

  L.P: In order to satisfy the definition of a "town or village green" for the Commons Registration Act 1965, the inhabitants of the locality must "continue" to use the land for sports and pastimes for a period of twenty years until the date of the application for registration under the 1965 Act
• What is the L.P of Redcar? (where residential development was proposed to land that shared two activities of golf & informal recreation use)

  L.P: recognises that shared use is not incompatible with use as of right

  
  

  L.P: held that residents showing civility demonstrates them exercising their use as of right & when exercised, it would mature into an established right unless the owner took action to stop it