The Guardian 02/08/2004
Legal gambit aims to halt £200m holiday development
by Steven Morris
The sandy beach at Carlyon Bay, which sweeps down from rocky cliffs topped with heathland to crystal-clear water, may not be the archetype of an English village green. But residents near the beach on the south coast of Cornwall are hoping to halt the development of a multimillionpound holiday complex by having it designated as such - their precious sliver of common land.
After lobbying by local activists, Cornwall county council has decided that an inquiry will be held to decide whether the beach near St Austell should be given village green status.
The inquiry will be watched with interest by countryside campaigners and pressure groups fighting developments across the country.
Though the tactic of trying to thwart developers by having an area designated as a village green is being used with increasing frequency, it is believed that the Carlyon Bay beach would be the first to win such status.
Work has already begun on the £200m development - The Beach at Carlyon Bay - which is to include more than 500 apartments, a hotel, lido, pools, restaurants and shops. The scheme is supported by some tourism and business leaders, residents and local politicians who believe it will create new jobs in a rather deprived area.
However, many people who live nearby fear it will change the character of the mile-long beach, which they have enjoyed for generations. They have nicknamed the development Costa del Carlyon, comparing it to the concrete monstrosities which blight parts of the Spanish coast. Peter Price, a retired policeman, and his wife, Gloria, who are members of the Carlyon Bay Watch group, put together the case to have the beach registered as a green under the Commons Registration Act 1965. They have submitted photographs, testimonies from beach users and a petition which they say shows that the beach has been used as a village green for years.
Mrs Price said: "The town of St Austell is not blessed with many parks or open spaces. For us the beach has always been our village green. It is just common sense."
An attempt to have the beach at Whitstable in Kent registered as a village green amid concerns that an oyster fishery company could block public access failed after an inquiry.
Among the reasons the Whitstable attempt failed was that a village green has to have a defined boundary - the area that the Kent campaigners wanted designated a green included land which vanished when the tide came in.
But the barrister who heard the Whitstable inquiry, Philip Petchey, told the Guardian there was no reason in principle why another beach might not be designated a green if the boundary was set above the high-water mark and as long as it fulfilled the other criteria, such as being used as a green for 20 years to indulge in lawful sports and pastimes.
Anne Wilks, who led the Whitstable campaign, said: "I've heard about the development at Carlyon Bay and it sounds dreadful. I hope they will learn from my experience and have more success."
Kate Ashbrook, the general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, which has been advising the Carlyon Bay campaigners, said: "We would urge communities everywhere to identify land which they use as a green and get it registered before it is threatened. You are up against it once the developers are moved in - you're racing against a planning application."
The Carlyon Bay developers, Ampersand, are unimpressed by the campaigners' tactics, and predict that the tactic will fail. The company's director, Andy Woods, said: "Groups opposed to developments often use this tactic as a last resort to attempt to thwart proposals for which planning permission has been given."