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<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><h1><b>Beach protest over
Brancaster land grab claims</b></h1><br>
<i>Next Tuesday's (7th Sept 18:30) Brancaster Parish Council meeting
promises to be interesting as a motion attacking common rights holder
councillors has been threatened by the chair<br>
</i><hr>
By <a href="https://www.lynnnews.co.uk/authors/judy-bates">Judy
Bates</a><br>
<b> Published:</b> 16:18, 01 September 2021<br>
<a href="https://www.lynnnews.co.uk/news/campaigners-turn-out-to-support-common-rights-holders-dispu-9214225/">
https://www.lynnnews.co.uk/news/campaigners-turn-out-to-support-common-rights-holders-dispu-9214225/<br>
</a><hr>
Land rights campaigners held a protest at Brancaster beach car park over
the weekend to back local commons rights holders embroiled in a
long-running disagreement.<br><br>
Ten protesters from the Land is Ours campaign camped out on an area of
land which is part of a dispute between the rights holders and the Royal
West Norfolk Golf Club and the National Trust.<br><br>
Tony Gosling, who came up from Bristol to lead the protest, said they saw
it as something of a feud and an example of private landowners extending
their boundaries and grabbing land and rights holders losing out.<br>
<img src="cid:7.0.1.0.1.20210903022920.08bd36b0@cultureshop.org.uk.0" width=750 height=486 alt="Land rights Protest Camp at Brancaster Beach Car Park, over the">
<br>
<i>Land rights Protest Camp at Brancaster Beach Car Park, over the Bank
Holiday Weekend...Tony Gosling (right) with other protest group at the
Car Park with Brancaster Golf Club in the Background, they are joined by
Stephen Bocking (2nd left) Brancaster Parish Council member and Scolt
Head and District Common Rightholders Association member..
(50709998)<br><br>
</i>Brancaster Marsh Common covers several thousand acres and parts of it
have been registered by the golf club and the Trust.<br><br>
The common rights holders and parish council dispute the land ownership
claims and are also disgruntled that they are not receiving enough
compensation for being unable to exercise historic rights which date back
to the Enclosures Act of 1765 and would have made the parish the owner of
the land.<br><br>
Although they don't own any of the land, the 300-plus members of the
Scolt Head and District Common Rightsholders Association (SCADRA) are
entitled to historic rights over the land for activities including
shooting, fishing and grazing.<br>
<img src="cid:7.0.1.0.1.20210903022920.08bd36b0@cultureshop.org.uk.1" width=750 height=379 alt="Land rights Protest Camp at Brancaster Beach Car Park, over the">
<br>
<i>Land rights Protest Camp at Brancaster Beach Car Park, over the Bank
Holiday Weekend.... (50709999)<br><br>
</i>They claim that if they are not able to carry out these activities
they are entitled to compensation and feel they are also entitled to a
portion of any income from the land.<br><br>
The beach car park is one area under dispute. It is run by the golf club
which, according to the rights holders, also claims to own it.<br><br>
Rights holder and parish councillor, Stephen Bocking, said that although
the club had registered the land it occupies it has never produced the
deeds to prove ownership and all SCADRA receives in compensation is £100
for some fencing on the land.<br><br>
"We just want to get people round a table to talk about it but all
we get from the golf club are solicitor's letters," he said. One
letter arrived in response to the protest action.<br><br>
Chris Cotton, another rights holder and parish councillor, said that they
welcomed the support from the Land is Ours campaigners although they had
no idea they were coming to Brancaster until a few days
beforehand.<br><br>
Mr Gosling said they were not there to be disruptive - just to try to
bring people together in what had developed into something of a
feud.<br><br>
He said: "It amounts to a difference of opinion between the
traditional rights holders and new money which holds the legal
clout," he said.<br><br>
Mr Gosling said they had an opportunity to chat to those involved over
the weekend and hoped their intervention might bring the parties together
face to face.<br><br>
The issue will be on the agenda at a parish council meeting next
Tuesday.<br><br>
The Land Is Ours was founded in the 1990s by George Monbiot, now a
leading figure with Extinction Rebellion.<br><br>
The golf club has also been contacted for comment.<br>
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