AN AREA of common land in Holt is likely to remain fenced off from the public despite cries from the Open Spaces Society for action.

God's Blessing Green is at the centre of a dispute after a nearby landowner erected a fence preventing public access. Holt Parish Council is urging Dorset County Council to take enforcement action but their officers say, unless they can prove rights of common existed before September 1926, they have no such power.

The owners of the property say they had no knowledge of the land being registered "common land" when they bought it and that the fencing is in fact on the border between the highway and the common land. And they say the fencing is in front of existing established hedging with no point of access through it from the roadside or footpath.

And The Countryside Agency claims because the land is within 20 metres of the dwelling it falls under the definition "excepted land" where public access is denied.

Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, said it should be up to the property owner to prove there were no rights before 1926.

She added: "Too many of our commons are degraded by unlawful works. Dorset should set an example to other authorities by taking resolute action here.

"The council should protect the common from encroachment, regardless of the right to roam. Commons are important as part of our history and cultural heritage."

They've written to local councillors urging them to vote against the officers' recommend-ation and agree to take enforcement action. But the head of Dorset County Council's legal and democratic services, Jona-than Mair, is urging councillors to vote in favour of leaving the fences in situ. A decision over the dispute will be reached at the roads and rights of way committee meeting next Monday.

First published: April 6