Judge adjourns skate park village green case, calls for Government view

A High Court hearing into whether a skate park should be registered as a village green was adjourned last week after the judge decided to seek the Government's view on the impact of reforms contained in the Growth & Infrastructure Act 2013.

Mrs Justice Lang is to invite the Treasury Solicitor’s Department to give the Government’s view, amongst other things, on the interpretation of the restrictions on village green registration contained in the 2013 Act, as to the particular circumstances in relation to the Southbank Undercroft and as to the application of the Human Rights Act.

The case was adjourned after a day and a half of a scheduled two-day hearing.

Lawyers for the campaign group seeking registration, Long Live Southbank (LLSB), and the Open Spaces Society, had claimed that the interpretation of the restrictions proposed by the London Borough of Lambeth and the Southbank Centre would have lead to “absurd and unintended results”.

Simon Ricketts of law firm King & Wood Mallesons SJ Berwin, which is acting for LLSB, said the earliest the proceedings could resume is likely to be July.

“This case relates to an application for registration that was within days of the new regime coming into effect, so it really is the first test of the new restrictions,” he added.

“It is setting Lambeth and now the Government a real examination paper. It is going to be a very important test case on the interpretation of the restrictions that were brought in by the 2013 Act and there will be a lot of attention given to the position that is taken by the Treasury Solicitor’s Department.”