The owners of an estate in Hampshire that was listed for inclusion in a National Park recently fought the decision all the way to the Court of Appeal and won a victory on the grounds that the ‘opportunities for open-air recreation’ which were necessary for inclusion had to be realistic, not merely aspirational or potential.
The owner’s initial objection had been on the basis that 800 acres of the estate did not meet the criteria for natural beauty and open-air recreation, mainly because there was no public right of way over the land and the owner had no intention of creating one.
A local enquiry led to an inspector and a land assessor inspecting the land and concluding that it did meet the criteria and should therefore be included in the New Forest National Park area under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949.
The Court of Appeal rejected the decision, ruling that the inspector had taken too liberal a view of what constituted ‘opportunities for open-air recreation’. Whilst such opportunities could exist in the future, given that the landowner had no intention of allowing public access to the land and there was no way of forcing him to do so, the order was incorrectly made and should be quashed.