Commons Bill [Lords]

Several of us said in Committee that we were keen on the creation of more village greens, and clause 15 allows that to happen. As the Minister said, the Trap Grounds case has held up some applications, but that judgment is now through. I want to talk about a case that I mentioned in Committee—that of Keenwell in Calverton in Nottinghamshire. Local people in Calverton made an application for registration of that new green at the back end of last year. The commons registration authority, Nottinghamshire county council, decided not to pursue the registration at that stage as it was awaiting the outcome of the Trap Grounds judgment. That judgment is helpful, as is clause 15(4), which suggests that if local inhabitants have a claim if they have used the land lawfully for sports and pastimes for more than 20 years. That condition is met. I know Keenwell extremely well; it is a site of some value bordered by an ancient village track. Within the last month, the registration application has been made, and it is a case of ““so far, so good””. However, the owner of the land, Langridge Homes, recently said that it had an outstanding planning permission that has lain dormant since 1972—so dormant that the planning authority, Gedling borough council, was unable to find it. A struggle has been going on in Calverton between the local people who made the application to the registration authority and Langridge Homes. That may be the kind of example that the hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire was looking for. Langridge Homes now wants to start developing that land to block the application.