Usually disputes about land are between developers building the future and campaigners preserving our heritage. But the Harrogate Stray has always been unusual.
Instead, it is the focus of a conflict between two organisations that both have the greening of the country at their heart. In one corner is the Stray Defence Association (SDA), set up in 1933 to ensure that these 80 hectares (200 acres) of green space in the heart of Harrogate remain untouched, and in the other is the Open Spaces Society (OSS), which has been campaigning to defend footpaths, village greens and commons since 1865.
“The Stray is the lungs of Harrogate,” said Judy d’Arcy Thompson, chair of the SDA. “We have 2,000 trees edging it, eight million crocuses and we have the most beautiful avenue of cherry trees in the country. It’s the sort of place you can just release a toddler and watch their legs go pell-mell and know that there won’t be a problem.”
The dispute began because the OSS has applied for the Stray to be registered as a common, to meet a government-imposed deadline, saying that this would ensure the public would always have access to the land.
But the SDA believes this would undermine several other protections enjoyed by the Stray, including by acts of parliament, potentially causing legal jeopardy for home owners and stop the land being used for charity events.
People strolling from the town centre to enjoy the wide-open space have been alarmed to see notices at the edge of the parkland from North Yorkshire Council informing them of proposals to make it a common, Thompson added.
“They’re bewildered because they believe it’s already fully protected and they are alarmed as to what the OSS want to do, and what they will achieve.”
At the OSS, there is also some confusion. “We did engage with the Stray association,” said Dr Frances Kerner, the OSS’s commons re-registration officer. An initial phone call has not been followed up. “We did want to understand what the concerns were. I genuinely don’t understand. So a dialogue would have been nice.
“Quite a lot of the objections are misplaced. There is a lot of misunderstanding about what we do.”
Kerner and her colleagues have been trying to re-register parcels of land that were once considered to be common land – areas anyone in a village could use to graze cattle or take wood or other resources – but had been enclosed and become privately held by farmers and other landowners.
A large amount of land in England and Wales was enclosed in the 18th century during the agrarian revolution to improve agricultural efficiency as the population grew. But depriving people of access to land they had used for generations was unpopular, sparking riots, and it led to the creation of conservation movements, such as the National Trust, in the 19th century.
The Open Spaces Society has been attempting to register common land in England and Wales since the Commons Act 2006 re-opened the matter. It has had plenty of success – in 2020, Lizard Downs in Cornwall – 114 hectares (280 acres) of open moorland – was re-registered and last month it won a bid to re-register Bunny Hill and part of Fentongoose Common near Truro.
Bunny Hill was a more typical case, Kerner said. The area of woodland is on the edge of another common and is owned by Viscount Falmouth, who objected on the basis that it was used for rearing game birds. But a planning inspector disagreed. The Viscount still owns Bunny Hill, Kerner said. “Common land always belongs to somebody and this land belongs to Lord Falmouth. But other people have the right to access it.” It means that ramblers can use a path on Bunny Hill and the land cannot be built on.
While Bunny Hill was fenced off and mostly ignored, Harrogate Stray is open to the public and is well-used and protected vociferously by the SDA.
“We believe registration [as commons] will give it greater protection,” Kerner said. “If anyone wants to do anything to that land, they will have to get the permission of the secretary of state.”
Thompson believes the extra protection will create more legal jeopardy.
“As far as we’re concerned, it has three layers of protection already,” she said. The Stray is owned by the crown through the Duchy of Lancaster. In 1770, the Enclosure Act gave Harrogate 200 acres of unenclosed land. And the Harrogate Stray Act of 1985 gives responsibility for maintaining the Stray to the local authority.
“We believe they haven’t used the correct maps and there is a possibility of legal problems in the future,” Thompson said. Parts of the Stray have been swapped for other areas, and some homes have driveways that can only be accessed through land which is officially part of the Stray, she said. People are also worried about the future of charity events, which can be held for 28 days a year under the current arrangements.
“I’m sure what [the OSS are] doing elsewhere is extremely laudable,” Thompson added. “They’re doing a fantastic job, and I’m sure there are lots and lots and lots of very worthy places which would benefit from their intervention and their care.”
