A residents’ group in the village of Harrietsham will be celebrating this week, after Kent County Council agreed to reconsider their refusal to register a local field as a village green.
The Friends of Booth Field are keen to registered the field as a village green in order to prevent residential development of the site.
Mrs Jessie Gilham, a member of the resident’s group, initially sought judicial review of the council’s decision to refuse the village-green application. She claimed, among other things, that the council’s decision was biased because the development was to be carried out by a private charitable trust.
But Mrs Gilham’s application has been dropped now that the council have agreed to reconsider their decision.
The council agreed to the review after accepting that their refusal of the application was not in accordance with one of the regulations that apply to common-land registration.
As a result, the decision not to grant the land village-green status has been formally quashed by the High Court.
PLS News 20/05/02
