Is there public access to Yateley Common?

Since it has always been illegal to erect fences on common land, and invariably public roads, tracks and paths cross commons, common land has always been accessible to the public. However it must be emphasied that, in the past, the public at large had no legal right to wander at will over common land. Because everyone in Yateley prior to the 20th century had common rights, then Yateley people would have wandered all over the common, and if not grazing their animals, they would have been collecting firewood, or cutting turves.

Thus until the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW) gave a qualified right to roam on all common land, the right of the general public to walk anywhere on a common was a legal grey area. However it was generally accepted that people in the neighbourhood could take air and exercise on any rural common and, as far as I know, no actions have ever been taken against members of the public for trespass on common land.

Section 193 of the Law of Property Act 1925 gave the public legal access to metropolitan commons, and enabled public spirited owners of commons to make a covenant to provide the public with free access to their commons. Mr Laurence Currie was very quick off the mark making such a Deed of Declaration on 1 May 1927. This deed was revocable, and applied to 272 acres of Yateley Common and 46.75 acres of Hornley Common. Hornley is not a typing error for Hawley, but the name of an ancient farm south of the A30. I wonder if this deed has ever been revoked. The part of the common now called Yateley Country Park had to wait a few more days in 1927 to be covenanted under s.193, on 21 May 1927. This revocable deed made by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners covered 510 hectares and included Darby Green. This reveals the mistake in the area calculation by Taverner.

On common where s.193 applied, such as the Country Park, the public only have a legal right of access for air and exercise. It must be stresses that it remains an offence to drive a vehicle (that includes a bicycle), to camp, or to light a fire anyway on a common to which s.193 applies. If s.193 does not apply to a common it is an offence to drive a vehicles beyond 15 yards onto a common. However if s.193 does apply then vehicles cannot be driven anywhere on a common. The fine which can be imposed by s.193(4) will not exceed level 1 on the standard scale. The owner of the common can apply to have bylaws which further restrict what the public may do.

So now the general public have a theoretical legal right to roam on registered Yateley Common unit CL24, but this right is in fact severely curtailed over practically all of it. If you look at the official website of access land maps you will find that the east-west runway of Blackbushe Airport, the fenced macadamed part of Blackbushe Sunday Market, and the whole of the common owned by the MOD is excluded. The latter is the common over which Lawrence Currie declared public access in 1927. CROW 2000 s.28 (2)d enables the Secretary of State to make a direction to exclude land for the purposes of defence or national security, but this must be reviewed every 5 years. I do not know if such a direction has been made over the part of the common owned by Defence Estates, MOD. It could be that the MOD land has been excluded from the right to roam land because it is still subject to the Deed of Declaration made by Laurence Currie in 1927.

The right to roam over common land does not apply to common land subject to s.193. This means there is no right to roam conferred by the Countryside & Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW) over Yateley Country Park. Therefore I question whether it is correct that the whole of the Country Park appears as access land on the official maps. If I am correct then the general public must keep to rights of way (which does not include informal paths), and they must do so on foot or on horseback only.

If my reading of the situation is correct then the only parts of Yateley Common CL24 where the public do have a right to roam under CROW are the whole of the Calthorpe part south of Blackbushe Airport and the whole of the 138 acres north of the runways, and possibly the Sunday Market unless it is legally part of the airport runways.

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