| Appearing in the February 2003
Brancaster Parish News . . .
"PROPOSED
WORK ON BARROW COMMON
While
Brancaster Parish Council is still deliberating on the proposed Barrow Common Management
Agreement, the other two parties to the agreement – who have both accepted it –
have decided to begin some work on the common in order not to lose more time in managing
it. Following a long established practice that has in recent years been discontinued, as a
start the registered owner, the Hartop Trust, and the executive committee of the Barrow
Common Rightholders’ Association intend to undertake a pilot scheme of selective
burning and/or cutting of gorse.
In order not to damage or destroy insects, birds and animals that have gorse as a spring
and summer habitat, this must be undertaken before the end of February. Accordingly,
parishioners should be aware that this operation is likely to be carried out. It is part
of a long-term aim to open up the common and make it accessible to all, while maintaining
it as a wild place for the enjoyment of fresh air and exercise.
The Barrow Common Management Committee will soon be meeting to discuss this and other
actions, and parishioners will be kept informed."
The
above statement came from the Barrow Common Righholders' Association, headed by
Maurice de Soissons, and Jeremy Thompson of the Hartop Trust the present registered owner
of the soil of the Common.
During
the same month of February, Maurice de Soissons wrote to the Clerk of Brancaster Parish
Council stating his intention to follow the above course of action. The Council
replied asking him not to do this. At the February meeting of the Council it was
agreed that while awaiting counsel's opinion on the proposed management agreement put
forward to the Council by the other two parties, they would agree to some exploratory work
upon the Common.
On
the 19th March, a large swathe of the Common was burned in the North East corner behind
Valley Farm. This has been done beyond the deadline of February as reported above
and it is likely to have destroyed the nesting birds, emerging insects and mammals.
This
action has been reported to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, to DEFRA, to Norfolk County
Council and to English Nature.
Burnt
areas can be seen on the hillside of Barrow Common
New
reports say that other areas of the Common have also been burnt . . . .
Events leading to the above . . .
In 1991 Brancaster Hall with its surrounding lands was sold to local farmer Jeremy
Thompson representing a family trust, The Hartop Trust.
Included in this sale was the soil of Barrow Common.
Barrow Common is the only piece of
land away from the salt marshes left in the Parish of Brancaster for use by the common
man. This after the private Brancaster
Inclosure Act of 1755 closed all other lands. The
80 acre area situated on heathland known as Barrow Hills was deemed to be agriculturally
worthless. However, it was considered good
enough for grazing and the villagers were given the right to graze either two horses or
cows and also to take wood for burning in their hearths.
In more recent years this wood has consisted mostly of gorse.
During the 1939/45 war, the Common
was requisitoned by the armed forces and was closed to the parishioners. After the war the practice of grazing gradually
fell away as the need diminished and the fences and gates were not replaced.
For a period of time
‘management’ of the Common was practised. Bearing
in mind the environmentally insensitive times, occasional burning of 20 acres of the
Common by rotation was thought a satisfactory procedure.
This management procedure was discontinued some years ago and but has led,
today, to approximately 60 acres of Common
covered in well regenerated gorse or swathes of bracken and purple loosestrife.
Across this now overgrown Common are
2 public footpaths, 2 county roads and many paths made by walkers.
Recently it has been learned from
Norfolk County Council’s Legal Department that the public, under Section 193 of the
Property Act of 1925, has the right of air and exercise over the whole of the Common. This right is different to the right of access on
public footpaths and rights of way. Since the
1965 Commons Registration Act only 24 properties are registered holding Common Rights.
The Hartop Trust, after acquiring the
land in the 90’s, brought in machinery and stripped large areas of the Common of its
gorse and bracken. As well as destroying wildlife habitats it made it impossible to
walk through because of the stumps and debris of prickly gorse which had been left strewn
everywhere. This resulted in a Parish Council
meeting which developed into a public protest at this treatment of Barrow Common. Jeremy Thompson, at this meeting, presented a plan
of his proposed management of the Common which included cutting down some of the
peripheral trees, building car parks and closing or moving public footpaths. It came out at this meeting that under the Law of
Commons, he could not do any of this without the agreement of the common rightholders or,
indeed, without application to and agreement of the appropriate government department.
Resulting from this public protest in
c.1998, a small management committee was constituted consisting of the owner of the
Common, one parish councillor and one of the common rightholders who was also a parish
councillor.
Without public consultation over
further proposed management procedures, rumours were bound to spread around the Parish and
they did. ‘Flying sheep’ with
electric fences across the common being only one such rumour.
It was at this time that efforts were
made to trace the present common rightholders without whose agreement, it was thought, no
management work could legally be done. The
register of common rightholders held at Norfolk County Council was unhelpful because no
one had bothered to register changes when properties changed hands, as most have many
times since the compulsory registration in 1965. Eventually,
26 probable rightholders were identified and at a meeting on the 5th September 2001 these
common rightholders agreed to constitute a Barrow Common Rightholders’ Association
and appointed a committee to look after its affairs.
Since that night, under the
chairmanship of Maurice de Soissons, the
Association has been negotiating a draft agreement with the owner of the soil and the
Parish Council representing the parishioners, for a structure under which management of the Common can be successfully
undertaken.
The Council, wishing to gain legal
opinion on this draft agreement, has not yet agreed its contents. This has led to impatience on the part of the
Association and the owner, who in January of this year informed the council of their
intention to begin some work on the common. According
to their report “In order not to damage or destroy insects, birds and animals that
have gorse as a spring and summer habitat, this must be undertaken before the end of
February”. At its February 4th meeting
the Parish Council, appreciating the delay over legal opinion, tentatively agreed
that some exploratory work could be undertaken on the Common. No work, however, was done in February. But on the 19th March, with the nesting
season under way, a large swathe of the common was burnt.
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