Residents gather to hear case for village green status for local recreation ground

In a crowded stuffy room at the top of Llanrumney Library, east Cardiff, Cardiff council went head to head with local residents over the status of local parkland. This was day one of the public inquiry into whether Rumney Recreation Ground will be granted village green status - preventing Cardiff council's plans to build a new Llanrumney High School on the site as part of its schools reorganisation. Leslie Blohm QC has been employed to oversee the three-day procedure where the applicant, local residents and local MP Alun Michael, will put forward their case to save the park and the sole objector, Cardiff Council, will put forward their case against. Read our FAQ page about the process here . Today opening statements were made by both sides – fronted by barristers Mair Coombes-Davies for the applicants and Harriet Townsend for Cardiff council. Residents packed out the venue to hear both sides of the argument – a formal culmination of a long heated fight dubbed 'David and Goliath' in proportions. Opening statements of the inquiry Essentially the war residents have on their hands is a complicated one - "probably the most complicated area of law that can be imagined," Alun Michael MP succinctly quipped early on in the proceedings. To kick off the three-day inquiry, which had a feel of a nineteenth century court room both for the archaic legal language being used and the vivacity of local opposition to the local authority, Leslie Blohm QC addressed residents gathered in the meeting. The room was filled with an atmosphere of tension and apprehension. He said: "This is an inquiry into an application to register land as a town or village green. "I have been appointed by Cardiff council to act as an inspector and consider the merits of the application and to advise the council as to whether that land should be registered or not." Blohm explained his end purpose is to advise the council as to whether the site should be registered. As in this unusual case the council is acting both as the register and the objector – it will be up to the council to take on Blohm's advice. He also added that the local controversy of the plans for the new school on were not part of the public inquiry. He said: "The background to this application may be a matter of local contention but it's not my role to advise whether it's a good thing or a bad thing or on use of the land in the future." Later in the morning when the council's barrister Harriet Townsend received a series of jeers and whoops by local residents in the meeting, Blohm told the public to "quieten down" or procedures could not go ahead. He said: "I'm aware this is a matter of some local concern and I'm also aware disagreements run quite high. It's not going to help my task when people hear things they disagree with they make that evident." Applicants make their case Speaking first on behalf of the applicants – formally Alun Michael MP, Mel Plenty, treasurer of RREEL Action Group and Denise Taylor, barrister Mair Coombes-Davies from Civitas laid out the applicants' argument. Coombes-Davies told the inquiry 143 witness statements from inhabitants of the locality had been submitted, along with witness statement from Michael and Plenty. She said: "The background to and justification for the application to register Rumney Recreation Ground as a town or village green is that a significant number of inhabitants of Rumney and Llanrumney have, as of right, used Rumney Recreation Ground for sporting, recreation and social activities. "A significant number of inhabitants have engaged as a right in lawful sports or pass times on the land for 20 years and continue to do so at the time of the application. "The use has been consistent from at least the 1920s. It has continued over the period of 1 April 1952 conveyance of the land from Charles Crofts Llewelyn Williams and trustees to the Lord Mayor, alderman and citizens of the City of Cardiff (the predecessors in title of the objector) to the date of the application for registration 8 January 2010." The date the application was received was later amended to 20 January 2010. Coombes-Davies said the village green has been used by residents since the 1920s, although they have never been given express permission to use it as such – and therefore the application should be granted. She concluded: "Therefore 20 years use at any time is sufficient provided that it was then as of right and provided it has continued but it does not matter that the continued use remained as of right, once the status is established permission does not take it away. In practical terms the effect is that use for 20 years before the acquisition date may be relied on by the applicants. "The evidence which will be presented before you in the next few days is sufficient to justify the conclusion that the use was as a right, for a period in excess of 20 years before the application. Rumney Recreation Ground should be therefore be recommended for village green status." Council puts forward their objection Barrister Harriet Townsend has been employed by Cardiff council to put forward its case. She argued the land was already granted permission to residents and accepted that the playing fields have been used by the people. She concluded there need be no new application for village green status. She said: "The council recognises and accepts that many people used the recreation ground for lawful sports and pass times during the relevant period. "The council's objection is use of land has been by or of right. If members of the public have enjoyed the right to use legally the recreation ground then there use cannot be relied upon to establish as new village green status." Townsend said in 1954 the land was designated for parks use by the local authority and have been managed by the parks ever since. "The council had purchased the land for the express purpose of recreational use," she said. "The first question to be addressed is did the land owner (the council) have a legal obligation to allow the use of Rumney Recreation Ground throughout the relevant period? "Some users of Rumney Recreation Ground do so by express permission and subject to express conditions. This includes those who hold fêtes (a least some of them and possibly all of them) and those who pay to use the facilities provided on section 19 of the 1976 act. "Unless or until due process appropriates to different purpose or the council disposes of the land, members of the public are to expect the council to manage the land in a way which is consistent with the purpose on which it's held. "If the informal recreational use of the land relied upon by applications was not use by right, the use made of the land has been 'precario' (by permission) pursuant to the permission of the council." Townsend said the argument lied in whether use of the land had been 'as of right' – which means without force, our without secrecy, in an open way and without 'precario' – which means not used based on a licence or without permission to do so. The central issue, then, under discussion today was whether the site had been used with permission or not. Check back on the blog tomorrow morning to read the case to save the parkland put forward by local residents and the local MP.