Village Green application for Heritage Green taken back by Rochdale Council

An application to grant Village Green status to a piece of land at the junction of Caldershaw Road and Cut Lane in Norden has been taken back by Rochdale Borough Council - despite previously passing the decision to an external local authority last year due to a "conflict of interest".

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/138/community-news/117137/village-green-application-sent-to-an-independent-expert

The Friends of Heritage Green group applied for village green status for the land back in 2015 after persuading the council to retract its plans to sell the Heritage Green. This means that the group has to supply proof that the land has been used by local people for lawful sports and pastimes ‘as of right’ (i.e. without permission, force or secrecy) for at least 20 years.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/96448/friends-of-heritage-green-continue-campaign-to-oppose-sale-of-playing-field-in-norden

The process has been ongoing for over three years and has required local residents to expend an enormous amount of time and effort in proving the case for registration. The Friends group has continued to endeavour to register Heritage Green as a Village Green to ensure the field remains a playing field forever.

The application was delegated to Cheshire East Council in 2016, with Rochdale Council having chosen not to determine the outcome itself because of a possible conflict of interest, given that it owns the land.

When Rochdale Council made the decision to delegate, they stated that “whilst there are of course financial implications, they are proportionate to the risks and in the best interests of the public, the democratic process and the Council, financially, reputationally and professionally.”

The Friends group’s application was advertised by Cheshire East Council to give all interested parties, including Rochdale Council, the opportunity to object to the application, on any grounds, by a closing date of 30^th May 2017.

No objections were received and, as Cheshire East Council was satisfied that the Friends group’s application satisfied all the required criteria, in early December 2017, a paper was written by Cheshire East’s legal department recommending registration.

Mark Hope, a spokesman for the Friends of Heritage Green, said: “To the Friends of Heritage Green’s surprise, Rochdale Council made a very late verbal objection in December 2017 and to our astonishment, despite the objection being six months late and not being in writing, Cheshire East decided to consider the objection.

“In fairness, they were very critical of Rochdale Council’s behaviour and referred the matter of the admissibility of such a late verbal objection to external lawyers to determine whether it should be admitted. In the event that the objection proved to be admissible, Cheshire East planned for an independent inquiry to be held whereby both sides could put their cases forward for the independent expert to make a recommendation as to whether to register or not.

“Whilst we believed that the field should have been registered back in December 2017, we understood where Cheshire East were coming from.”

However, after the application was referred to an independent expert, Rochdale Council called back the application on Monday 11 June, much to the surprise of the Friends group, who found out after attending a meeting with Cheshire East’s Public Rights of Way Committee, who were processing the application.

Mr Hope added: “I questioned how procedurally this could happen, given Rochdale Township Committee delegated the matter by virtue of a constitutional decision and Cheshire East similarly accepted it by virtue of a constitutional decision, so how could a phone call that morning unravel all that?

"I also told Cheshire East that my best information, from speaking to Rochdale Council’s legal department, is that their intention is to take the matter back in house and recommend rejection of our application to their Cabinet, based upon the point made in their objection, without a public inquiry, so the return of the matter to Rochdale Council severely prejudices our position and completely ignores the reasons for delegating in the first place to avoid claims of bias and unfairness.

“This just feels like the goal posts have been moved twice, firstly, when the recommendation to register Heritage Green was reversed in December 2017 and now again, when we have two chances of success, either by the objection being thrown out or through succeeding at the inquiry, by Rochdale Council snatching the matter back and handling it differently.

"These applications are always like David and Goliath, given the disparity between the money, resources and access to legal expertise of the two parties, but this application is unique as it is David and two Goliaths.

“The Friends of Heritage Green plan to complain about the process and the lack of fairness to both Rochdale Council and Cheshire East Council, in an attempt to get the decision reversed to restore fairness and impartiality.

“In any event, we will continue fighting to register Heritage Green as a Village Green, as it should be, until we succeed or have exhausted all avenues. We won’t be put off by the behaviour of these two councils.” 

Mark Robinson, Rochdale Borough Council assistant director of economy, said: “In April 2016, after taking legal advice, the council asked Cheshire East Council to make an independent report regarding the council-owned Heritage Green playing field. At the time we did not have the capability to deal with applications of this type ourselves. This, however, has changed in the last two years and an unconnected High Court judgement confirmed there would be no conflict of interest in a council deciding on such applications.

“As a matter of courtesy, the council contacted Cheshire East on 11 June to confirm that we would be calling back the application, and an experienced member of our legal service team, who has not previously dealt with the matter, will prepare a report on the application as soon as practical for councillors to make a decision.

“To be clear, at no stage did the council provide a written or verbal objection in relation to the application. The council did contact Cheshire East Council on 30 November 2017 and raised a legal point on the report due to go to its committee in December 2017 and asked them to further consider the point.”

A spokesperson for Cheshire East Council said: “We were contracted by Rochdale Council about the application and have no comment to make.”