A High Court judge has decided that West Beach at Newhaven in East Sussex is not a village green as Mr. Justice Ouseley ruled it did not qualify because its use by local people for informal recreation was incompatible with its statutory use as a port by the owner, Newhaven Port and Properties Ltd.
Newhaven Town Council applied to East Sussex County Council for the 15 acres to be registered as a green when the owner erected fences and closed off the beach to the public in 2008. The council, after holding a public inquiry, agreed to register the green but the company challenged the decision in the High Court.
Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society which advised Newhaven Town Council, said: ‘We are disappointed that this case appears to have been lost on a technicality. It was held that because the port authority had statutory authority to run a port here, this conflicts in law with the use of the land as a green. But there is no such conflict in practice, people have enjoyed this land for decades – and continue to do so despite the fencing which was erected to keep them out.’
Read the Newhaven Town Council report at: LINK
Search Planning Portal: LINK
