Wiltshire Council v Cooper Estates Strategic Land Ltd: Development Plans and the Restriction of Town and Village Green Applications

The Court of Appeal has, for the first time, considered the scheme of ‘trigger events’ introduced in the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 which preclude the registration of land as a town or village green (or TVG). The event in question concerned identification for potential development in a development plan document. The court was required to determine what constitutes ‘identification for potential development’ for the purposes of the statute. This note suggests that the court's interpretation of ‘identification for potential development’ is unconvincing, and was motivated primarily by policy: to render it more difficult to register land as a TVG. It argues that the judgment constitutes a further and significant restriction on the future viability of TVG applications, rendering entire settlements liable to lose the application of TVG law.