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Sunday, 25 October 2009

Gladstone Park Town Green

A few weeks ago, Brent Council finally responded to a 2007 request to make Gladstone Park into a Town Green. A Town Green is exempt from being built on. Happily no one is planning to build on Gladstone Park, unless you count any minor works required in an upgrade of Dollis Hill House. What surprised me was the grounds of refusal. To create a Town Green, you need to prove that the area has been used for sports and recreation for at least twenty years. I hadn't realised that the permission of the landowner was important. The Council refused the Town Green request on the ground that Brent Council had given permission for recreation and sports in Gladstone Park ever since the Park was opened in 1900.

3 comments:

Bill Allan said...

I don't understand. To create a Town Green "you need to prove that the area has been used for sport and recreation for at least twenty years". Yet the Town Green request was refused on the grounds that the area has been used for recreation and sport since 1900 - i.e. for at least twenty years. This doesn't make sense.

James Powney said...

Hi Bill

The point is the permission of the landowner. Brent Council have given permission since 1900 when Gladstone Park was formed. The Town Green application is intended for derelict land where the community have been making use of it for recreation without the owner's permission. It is a kind of squatters' rights.

Bill Allan said...

Many thanks for your speedy and clear reply.

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