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Another piece of the Dartmoor National Park in Devon has been registered as common land. Planning Inspector Nigel Farthing has granted the society’s application to register as common about 82.25 hectares of part of Ditsworthy Warren. The land, which is about 2.5 kilometres east of Sheepstor, is grazed and uncultivated.
Photo of part of the newly-registered land, looking west towards Sheeps Tor. Photo: Open Spaces Society
In 1968, a tract of land comprising Ditsworthy Warren and Yellowmead Common provisionally was registered as common land by Devon County Council but, following objections, hearings were held by a commons commissioner in 1982. The commissioner confirmed the registration of part of the land but refused the registration of part of Ditsworthy Warren because there were no rights of common. However, the commissioner did not consider (as he should have done) whether Ditsworthy Warren was waste land of a manor.
However, part 1 of the Commons Act 2006 reopened the opportunity to rescue lost commons which were excluded in these circumstances. Under paragraph 4 of schedule 2 to the 2006 Act, part of Ditsworthy Warren became eligible for re-registration. The application made by the society showed that the land is manorial in origin and that it remains ‘waste land of a manor’ to this day—that is, open, uncultivated, and unoccupied.
Says Frances Kerner, our commons re-registration officer: ‘The newly-registered land at Ditsworthy is situated between the land that was registered by the commissioner in 1982. It is particularly rewarding to see it reunited and that another piece of land on Dartmoor has been restored as common land.’
The registration of part of Ditsworthy Warren is not expected to restore any rights of common which formerly were exercisable over it. Nor does the land become subject to regulation under the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985. There is public access to the land under Part I of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.
Earlier this year, we reported that another piece of the Dartmoor National Park in Devon had been registered as common land. Read more about Walkhampton Common here.