Legal position with regard to issues affecting Ashton Heath
Summary
It is illegal for anyone to:
- deposit rubbish of any sort or fly-tip on Ashton Heath (see the Environmental Agency site for further details.)
- dig holes on Ashton Heath
- ride motorbikes on Ashton Heath
- have a loaded gun on the heath or any public place.
In addition, persons under 17 years of age must not carry an uncovered air rifle or any air pistol in a public place. It is also an offence for any unauthorised persons to shoot wild birds or animals protected by law, even those designated as pests. A trespasser or a person who shoots at birds in a public place will commit offences against the Firearms Act for having a gun and also against the law on the protection of birds by killing, or even trying to kill, a wild bird when he is not an authorised person.
Ashton Heath bye-laws
Ashton Heath was registered as common land on the 1st October 1970. The heath is regulated by a "Scheme Of
Management" made by the Ashton-In-Makerfield Urban District Council and confirmed by the Board of Agriculture and
Fisheries on the 16th December 1903.
With regard to the above Scheme Of Management, the Council created a series of bye-laws which were confirmed by
the Secretary Of State and came into force on the 1st August 1962.
Under Section 9 of the Scheme Of Management the Council may, for the prevention of nuisances and the preservation
of order on the common and subject to the provisions of section 10 of the Commons Act 1899, make, revoke and alter
bye-laws for any of the following purposes:
Fly-tipping
a) Prohibiting the deposit on the common, or in any pond thereon, of road sand, materials for repair of roads, dung, rubbish, wood, or other matter.
Note that under Section 87 of the Environmental Protection Act of 1990, it is an offence to deposit litter on
common land.
Also, the Environmental Protection Act of 1990 states that "a person commits an offence if he knowingly deposits
waste on land which does not have a waste management licence in force".
Digging
(b) Prohibiting any person without lawful authority from digging, cutting, or taking turf, sods, gravel,
sand, clay, or other substance on or from the common, and from cutting, felling, or injuring any gorse,
heather, timber, or other tree, shrub, brushwood, or other plant growing on the common.
Section 194(2) of the Law of Property Act 1925 provides that the council of any county or district concerned,
the lord of the manor or any other person with a legal interest in the land (such as a commoner) is able to
make an application to the county court for the removal of work unlawfully carried out on common land or
town/village green, and the restoration of the land to the condition in which it was before the work was
carried out. Furthermore, under section 194 of the Law of Property Act 1925 the erection of any building or
fence, or the construction of any work, which prevents or impedes access to land which was subject to rights of
common on 1 January 1926, is unlawful unless the consent of the Secretary of State is obtained.
Note that Ashton Heath is populated with signs posted by Wigan MBC that prohibit digging in the area.
Vehicles and Motorbikes
Section 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (c. 52) clearly prohibits anyone driving a motor vehicle on common land
without lawful authority unless:
(a) they are within fifteen yards of a road, being a road on which a motor vehicle may lawfully be driven,
for the purpose only of parking the vehicle on that land.
(b) if they prove that it was for the purpose of saving life or extinguishing fire or meeting any other
like emergency.
However, the Law and Property Act 1925 prevents any unauthorised access unless allowed by the Council. Parking vehicles on the heath presents a health and safety risk, damages the land and detracts from the attractiveness of the area in general, and is disapproved of by the Council.
Under section 59 of the Police Reform Act 2002, the police have the power of arrest if they have reasonable
grounds for believing that:
(a) the motor vehicle contravenes Section 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 (as above)
(b) it is causing, or is likely to cause, alarm, distress or annoyance to members of the public.
Russell Smith
Chair, Ashton Heath Residents' Association
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