Moelfre City Byway Access (Part 5)

The request was successful.

Dear Powys County Council,

As the cornerstone of their recent position Powys County Council’s officers have officially stated in several instances that they are powerless to fulfil their duty, and the obvious will of the former Radnor County Council, to add the short highway, or spur, that joins County Road C1077 in Llanbister to Moelfre City Byway Open to All Traffic (B.O.A.T.) LB645 to the List of Streets maintainable by the Council.

The reason given by PCC is the risk of a legal challenge by the owner of said highway, who they deem to be the owner of the adjacent Little Moelfre farm.

However, The Crown Estate owns the highway and already registered it, and the adjacent North-South section of County Road C1077 and their verges as part of Moelfre Hills Crown Common (R)CL22 under the Commons Registration Act of 1965.

PCC’s officers have been fully aware for a very considerable time that all the supporting documentation in the PCC file, consisting of several items pertaining to that Registration, clearly and unambiguously demonstrate, without any contradiction, that these highways are owned by The Crown Estate.

As a result of PCC’s recent controversial and contradictory statements they were reminded of the above facts when ownership was confirmed by the Crown Estate via their Wales agent Knight Frank in February, 2017, the correspondence being published on two recent occasions in response to Freedom of Information requests.

My questions to PCC are:

1. What documentary evidence do PCC have that irrefutably contradicts The Crown Estate’s known registration and ownership of the short highway, or spur, the adjacent section of County road C1077, and their verges?
2. If PCC received such documents have PCC corresponded actively with The Crown Estate to inform them of the contradiction?
3. Have PCC obtained The Crown Estate’s acceptance that such contradictory documents are legitimate, legally and rightfully obtained without subterfuge and overide their ownership?
4. Has the Crown Estate informed PCC that they withdraw their claim to ownership of the relevant sections of highway and County road?

Please provide copies of all documents relevant to the above.

Yours faithfully,

A. WALKER

Freedom of Information Queries (CSP - Generic), Powys County Council

 

Cyfarwyddwr Strategol: Rheoli Gwybodaeth/
Adnoddau
Information Compliance
Strategic Director: Resources
Neuadd Y Sir / County Hall
David Powell
Spa Road East

Llandrindod Wells

Powys LD1 5LG
  If calling please ask for / Os yn galw
gofynnwch am
 
 
 
Tel / Ffôn:  01597 82 7543         
 
Fax / Ffacs:  01597 82 6215      
 
Email/Llythyru electronig:
  [1][Powys County Council request email]

Our ref / Ein cyf:  F2017-0744

Date / Dyddiad:   17/07/17

 

 

Request Accepted

 

FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000

Reference No: F2017/0744

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Thank you for your request for information, received at this office on
17/07/2017, in which you requested details of the following:

 

Little Moelfre & Crown land        

 

The above is a summary of your request. The full details of the
information sought is provided to the officer to whom the request is
tasked.

 

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The due date for responding to this request for information is 14/08/2017

 

Should you need to discuss this further please contact the Information
Compliance Team on 01597 827543.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in
Powys County Council.

 

Yours sincerely,

Carl Bryden

 

Information Compliance Officer

 

 

 

 

 

Carl Bryden

Information Compliance Assistant

Cyngor Sir Powys Powys County Council

Ext. 7543

 

 

 

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References

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1. mailto:[Powys County Council request email]

Dear Freedom of Information Queries (CSP - Generic),

To avoid a separate FOI request, please add the following questions to my FOI Request Ref. F2017/0744,
being Moelfre City Byway Access (Part 5):

5. Has PCC formally advised The Crown Estate, either when they originally became aware, or when members of the public more recently became aware, that the Commons Register plan is severely defaced at the location of Little Moelfre, and now does not match the documentary evidence submitted by The Crown Estate which clearly showed their highways ownership around Little Moelfre as part of their Registration under the 1965 Act?
If so, please provide copies of correspondence.

6. Has PCC formally advised The Crown Estate that The Commons Act 2006 (Correction, Non-Registration or Mistaken Registration) (Wales) Regulations 2017 came into force on 5 May, 2017 and it is now possible for The Crown Estate to apply to the Commons Registration Authority at Powys County Council in order to make corrections to the Commons Register?
If so, please provide copies of correspondence.

Yours sincerely,

A. WALKER

Freedom of Information Queries (CSP - Generic), Powys County Council

Dear Sir/Madam,

These questions have been added to the existing request. Please take note of the amended reference number of F2017-0746 - Little Moelfre & Crown Land.

Many Thanks
Carl Bryden
Information Compliance Officer.

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information Queries (CSP - Generic), Powys County Council

3 Attachments

Cyfarwyddwr Strategol: Rheoli Gwybodaeth/
Adnoddau
Information Compliance
Strategic Director: Resources
Neuadd Y Sir / County Hall
David Powell
Spa Road East

Llandrindod Wells

Powys LD1 5LG
  If calling please ask for / Os yn galw
gofynnwch am
 
 
 
Tel / Ffôn:  01597 82 7543         
 
Fax / Ffacs:  01597 82 6215      

Email/Llythyru electronig:
[1][Powys County Council request email]

Our ref / Ein cyf:  0746

Date / Dyddiad:   14/08/17

 

Reference No: F2017-0746

 

 

Dear A Walker

 

Thank you for your request for information dated 17/07/17 concerning
Little Moelfre Crown Land

 

This is to inform you that your request has been considered and I can
provide the following response:

 

The Request:

 

1.         What documentary evidence do PCC have that irrefutably
contradicts The Crown Estate’s known registration and ownership of the
short highway, or spur, the adjacent section of County road C1077, and
their verges?

 

The ownership section of the Register of Common Land records claims to
ownership; it is not evidence of title in itself and those applying to
register a claim to ownership are not required to provide evidence of
title to land. Registration of title at the Land Registry would take
precedence over any claim to ownership in the Register of Common Land.
Land Registry’s ‘Mapsearch’ facility indicates that the access track to
Little Moelfre is currently within the same Land Registry title as the
Little Moelfre farm house and buildings, being title CYM337144. We do not
hold an office copy of this title so cannot provide it, or make further
comment as to the name of the registered owner.

 

2.         If PCC received such documents have PCC corresponded actively
with The Crown Estate to inform them of the contradiction?

3.         Have PCC obtained The Crown Estate’s acceptance that such
contradictory documents are legitimate, legally and rightfully obtained
without subterfuge and overide their ownership?

4.         Has the Crown Estate informed PCC that they withdraw their
claim to ownership of the relevant sections of highway and County road?

 

In response to all three of these questions, please see the attached email
correspondence with the representitives of the Crown Estate. As you will
see, we have redacted text that is not relevant to the request or to the
ownership of the access track, or to Commons Act ‘Corrective’ applications
(see question 6 below),

 

5.         Has PCC formally advised The Crown Estate, either when they
originally became aware, or when members of the public more recently
became aware, that the Commons Register plan is severely defaced at the
location of Little Moelfre, and now does not match the documentary
evidence submitted by The Crown Estate which clearly showed their highways
ownership around Little Moelfre as part of their Registration under the
1965 Act? If so, please provide copies of correspondence.

 

As it was part of a statutory process, a notice was sent to the Crown
Estate in 1971, when amendments were made to the Register of Common Land
pursuant to the objection made to the Crown Estate’s claim to ownership.
Please see the copy of the attached notice and letter from the Crown
Estate in relation to the objection made.

 

An extract from the Register of Common Land was provided to the agent to
the Crown Estate when we met them on site on 5th April 2017.

 

6.         Has PCC formally advised The Crown Estate that The Commons Act
2006 (Correction, Non-Registration or Mistaken Registration) (Wales)
Regulations 2017 came into force on 5 May, 2017 and it is now possible for
The Crown Estate to apply to the Commons Registration Authority at Powys
County Council in order to make corrections to the Commons Register? If
so, please provide copies of correspondence.

The Crown Estate has requested, and been provided with information about
making an application under sections 19, 22 and Schedule 2 of the Commons
Act 2006 – see attached document.

 

 

 

We believe that this request is now complete and shall be closed
immediately. Should any further information be requested regarding this
topic, a separate request will need to be submitted.

 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in
Powys County Council.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Information Compliance Team

 

 

The supply of documents under Freedom of Information does not give the
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[2]http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copy...

 

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Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

 

Information Commissioner's Office

2nd floor

Churchill House

Churchill way

Cardiff

CF10 2HH

Tel: 029 2067 8400

Email: [3][email address]

[4]www.ico.org.uk

 

 

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Powys County Council request email]
2. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copy...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.ico.org.uk/

Dear Freedom of Information Queries (CSP - Generic),

The Crown Estate correctly states the ‘area coloured pink on the enclosed plan should have been excluded from their registration under the unit number in question’. Nobody has an argument with that.

However, that exclusion clearly did not incorporate the two adjacent roadways. They are still shown on the original Crown Estate registration so correctly will remain registered to the Crown Estate under the 1965 Act.

When Radnor CC modified the plan ALL of the roadways adjacent to Little Moelfre should have been coloured green, to match the supporting registration documents from the Crown Estate.

The Commons Register plan at Powys County Council today is a mess at this location, making it invalid as a stand-alone document.

Until the Commons Register plan is corrected via the new Commons Register modification legislation any PCC response to an enquiry about the location would need to also provide the Crown Estate supporting documents and other linked documents for both RCL22 and RCL19 Commons and a clear explanation why the plan is erroneous.

Yours sincerely,

A. WALKER