Stop The Takeover

Many corportions are involved in something called "land grab" and they do this very simply, shopping centres and large retail outlets are the worst offenders and tackling the problem is actually very simple, in many cases they build a complex and to do so they have to have planninf permission and it is this planning permission which interests us as they always contain a list of conditions which have to be met, and in many cases these people leave things such as paths and roadways open for foot traffic for a while, then they close them off and claim the public right of way as their own property and shut it off out of the centres working hours.

This is where we pounce, all we do is to look on the appropriate councils website for the development and look at all the imposed conditions as these give us the ammunition we need to tackle them and prevent them claiming public land with rights of way as "theirs" and let the council do all the work, in addition contacting your local MP is often of considerable in preventing corporations from snatching land.

In one case I dealt with a retail outlet was allowed to build a shopping centre, they could only build either side of the original road, and they had the road changed through a TRO (traffic regulation order) to prevent vehicles travelling through, they agreed to install paving slabs and block paving (old hat I know) and a seating area in the middle of the precinct, but it had to remain as a public right of way for foot traffic. After a couple of years they got sneaky and installed a large roller mesh at each end of the roadway and prevented people accessing it after closing hours and I sprang into action.

My first port of call was to read the original planning application, its approval, and the conditions attached to the approval, and sure enough it was clearly stated and defined as a public right of way and there were no limitations as to it being closed off at night, I went and took photographs of the roller mesh and its guide runners where I was accosted by a security guard who told me I couldn't take photographs "on their property" which elicited a simple response "their property, who's property, and do you know where the boundary of their alleged property is" and the security guard left.

With the original planning application, its application number, and conditions; I wrote to the chief planning officer and quoted the relevant information and provided a copy of the photographs and demanded they act as I couldn't get through at 3am when I was walking home, I also copied in the local MP with all the facts and evidence and she jumped on it and also wrote to the council who then had to act, and boy did they act, they sent two people out and photographed the illegally installed security roller mesh and were confronted by two obtuse security guards who demanded they leave "their property" and stopped taking photographs, and they did. Within a week the council issued an enforcement notice requiring them to remove the obstructions within 21 days and not prevent anyone travelling a public right of way again; meanwhile the local MP thought it was a good local issue and made such a fuss in the local media which made her look good also, and this elicited a good local response.

All was well for about another 3 years when they replaced the roller security mesh with new items and the locals really kicked up and the site owners were taken to court and hit with a £350,000 fine.

excelent work assassin as always

freeland wrote:excelent work assassin as always

I agree.

I never thought about this as a way of pegging back un-enforced regulation of private business.

I wonder what law the shopping centre was relying on for its 'right' take over public land?

In aus there is an obscure law about fences and land boarders that says something along the line that if they get away with it for so many years it becomes their land, perhaps a similar law exists in the uk.