Braintree Green Common freed from unlawful fence

Support us from £3/month

We deal with almost 1000 cases a year assisting communities, groups and individuals in protecting their local spaces and paths in all parts of England and Wales. Can you help us by joining as a member?

We are delighted to have helped achieve the prompt removal of the unlawful picket-fence around part of Braintree Green Common at Rayne, one mile west of Braintree in Essex.

At the end of September, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs refused retrospective consent for the 1.1-metre-high fence on common land, around the property ‘Kenella’, under section 38 of the Commons Act 2006.

We immediately wrote to the occupant’s solicitors, Smith Law Partnership, urging that the fence be removed forthwith. We also asked Essex County Council’s legal department to write, which it did.

We were gratified to receive a letter from Smith Law stating that ‘the fence has now been removed and the common restored’. We were also pleased that Essex County Council reacted swiftly to our request to call for its removal.

The society has always, throughout its 146-year existence, campaigned to free common land from unlawful encroachments, and we are delighted that such prompt action has been taken to restore this common to the people.

Join the discussion

0 Shares

Posted in