Agenda item

Epping Forest Legislative Changes

Verbal report of the Superintendent of Burnham Beeches, Stoke Common and City Commons.

 

Minutes:

The Committee received a verbal report of the Superintendent regarding changes to legislation governing the City of London Corporation’s Open Spaces. He explained that each open space within the directorate was governed by specific Acts of Parliament from the 1870s and amendments had to be agreed by Parliament via Various Powers Acts. This had been used to enact specific changes in the past, but Members noted that there was now a need to amend and update the Acts more generally to incorporate the motor car, increasing financial challenges, population increase, and anti-social behaviour.

 

The Superintendent added that the following issues could be addressed with a Various Powers Act amendment:-

-       Surplus vacant accommodation on the Commons could be let to domestic or commercial private tenants instead of remaining vacant or being demolished;

-       Business and Commercial contracts could be no longer limited to three year periods;

-       Fines that were limited to specific amounts across the Open Spaces Directorate could be increased in line with the national scale of fines to better act as a deterrent against anti-social behaviour;

-       Exclusion of the public from small areas to allow staff to charge for filming to take place;

-       Damage to verges caused by vehicles and commuter parking could be addressed via a legal framework within the Acts.

 

In response to a Member’s question, officers advised that each Common had different byelaws, which would not be affected by this Act and could only be changed through a separate process.

 

Members were advised that a summary paper would be circulated to all Consultation Committee Members and that feedback would be welcome during the consultation process up to 15 April 2015. This would shape the Superintendent’s report to the City’s Court of Common Council, after which (if approved) formal consultation would take place before a Parliamentary paper submitted in November 2015.

 

The Superintendent will circulate his presentation and a separate paper giving more details, to inform Member’s considerations.

 

RECEIVED.