| Topic: | Restrictive Covenant protecting the Park | |
| Posted by: | Victor Mishiku | |
| Date/Time: | 15/04/13 12:46:00 |
| Looking through some earlier papers, I have noted the following information regarding the Rothschild covenant. The original covenant was imposed by Mrs Marie de Rothschild on 29th December 1925 when 199.8 acres of land was conveyed to Acton and Ealing Councils. This included the two mansions and all of the grounds. The 1925 Conveyance imposed restrictions on the two Councils that:- “they will not use the land and hereditaments for any purpose other than as a public park or sports ground and that the mansion houses and buildings on the said land…shall not at any time…be used except for such public purposes as may be ancillary to the use thereof as aforesaid…” A strip of land at the perimeter of the Park had been excepted where private houses were to be built by The Newcombe Estates Company Limited and a local builder, Albert Cox. This covenant was renewed on 11th December 1926 when two Conveyances of land took place to The Newcombe Estates Company Limited/Mr Cox with the Councils covenanting again to observe the Rothschild restrictions that the land (apart from the strip for the intended houses) would forever be used as a public park or sports ground. Some minor modifications have been allowed by the Lands Tribunal on three previous occasions, the last regarding the greenhouses allowing wholesale nurserymen to run them rather than Council staff only. That case came before H.H.Judge Rich 18 years ago. Initially, Hounslow Council's Legal Department told Mr Peter Blacker of the "Gunnersbury Park Covenant Group" that local residents had no say in the matter and that no residents were entitled to the benefit of the 1926 covenants. At the same time, the Council privately admitted to the then local MP Nirj Deva, that hundreds of residents were legally entitled to the benefit of the said covenants! Not long after, the Council admitted this publicly but then demanded that every single homeowner or tenant backing onto the Park produced their deeds from their mortgage companies, etc to prove their entitlement. Since the Court of Appeal had ruled that "even a weekly tenant may enforce a covenant" if they live on "benefited land", the local residents challenged the demands of Hounslow Council's Legal Department and wrote to Judge Marder QC at the Lands Tribunal protesting at the necessity of having to do all this. Judge Marder decided that the Council knew perfectly well who resided at the relevant houses on the "benefited land" and that a Council Tax entry or Electoral Register would suffice to save residents having the expense of requesting solicitors to obtain their original deeds from mortgage companies, etc. At the Hearing some 50 or so Objectors were admitted as having the benefit of the covenants. Dr Peter Cocking, their representative, did not object to the proposed wholesale nurserymen in the former Kitchen Garden and Greenhouses and the Tribunal allowed the modification sought by Hounslow & Ealing Councils. The case now under consideration is quite different. There is no existing school operating in the Park. It's not the same as allowing a greenhouse to be used by a wholesale nurseryman rather than a Council one. Schools often want to expand, having new buildings and areas to themselves and with young children there, they would want areas securely isolated and fenced off from the public and would also want their own private car-park for parents, staff, suppliers, coaches, etc. possibly with a new access road layout exclusively for the school. Private schools also often hire out permises to other outside organisations at weekends or at nights or both causing extra traffic disturbance to people living nearby. As we have seen, the private Khalsa Karate Club tried this in the Kingston case but was prevented by the Dyson covenant (which was imposed 21 years before the Rothschild covenant) and they only wanted a small pavilion building with some public access (but under the Karate Club's control). I seem to remember that Heritage Money had been made available from the National Lottery which did not involve handing over part of the public Park to developers (Alpha Plus Group Ltd of 50 Queen Anne Street, London W.1). Once ensconced in the Park, perhaps other money-making developments may be contemplated? |