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We are pleased that unenclosed land adjacent to Trewellard Common has been recognised as common land. Planning Inspector Paul Freer has granted the society’s application to register as common about 0.7 hectares of land situated south-east of the village of Trewellard. The land comprises brambles and bracken. It is about seven miles north-west of Penzance.
Looking east across the newly-registered land. Photo: Open Spaces Society
In 1969, Trewellard Common was provisionally registered as common land by Cornwall County Council. Following objections, a hearing was held in 1975 by a commons commissioner who confirmed the registration of most of the land but refused the registration of a small part because of a dispute relating to rights of common. The withdrawal of applications relating to the small part of land led to the commissioner’s decision to refuse registration.
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, the disputed part of Trewellard Common 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 is now restored as common land, and will be protected long into the future.’