Well done Hanworth !

I was pleased to see that the villagers of Hanworth have won their court case to retain use of the common land at the centre of this little community. The story is outlined well in the EDP today, and I think many people will sympathise with the villagers cause.

Having visited Hanworth a number of times (delivering leaflets of course), canvassed the village once and also designed a special Focus specifically for the village on two occasions, I know the place well. There are literally only a handful of houses in the village, but it is a lovely place. A large open roughly triangular common in the middle of the village, with cattle grids in the road as you enter from each side, it really is like something out of the Vicar of Dibley.

I can't comment in detail about this case, and it would be wrong of me to do so. However, there are a lot of cases around the country of the Lord of the Manor trying to impose rules on common land, and in many cases the law allows them to get away with a form of extortion that would not be allowed in any other case. I personally think the law needs tidying up so as to avoid these sorts of problems happening again. I don't see it happening though because I don't think the Labour Government particularly cares about the coutryside.