In the Western Mail of June 27th 2013 Carmarthenshire County Council had the following notice in the Legal Notices section of the Business pages (Page 41).
Local Government Act 1972 Section 123(2a) Llanelli
- Land adjacent 2/3 Tir Capel
- Land adjacent 88/89 Tir Capel
- Land fronting 5 – 13 Brynsierfel
- Land fronting 31, 33, 69 Brynsierfel
- Land fronting 71, 73 Brynsierfel
- Land adjacent 17 Llys Caradog
- Land fronting 29, 64, 66 Dwyfor
- Land fronting 68, 73 Dwyfor
- Land fronting 25, 27, 42, 47 Heol Elfed
- Land fronting 49, 60, 78, 82 Heol Elfed
- Dafen Park
Notice is hereby given that Carmarthenshire County Council intends to dispose of the above parcels of land which form part of a public open space within the meaning of the above Section. Objections to the intended disposal must be made in writing and addressed to: Head of Corporate Property, Carmarthenshire County Council, Building 8, St David’s Park, Carmarthen, SA31 3HB by no later than 17th July, 2013
Contact Number: (01267 246244) Contact e-mail: ethomas@carmarthenshire.gov.uk
Layman Interpretation of the above notice.
In the absence of any indication to the contrary, “the above parcels of land” lends itself to only one interpretation, namely “all of the land contained within the above parcels of land”.
According to 3 authoritative, up-to-date English dictionaries that we have consulted (Oxford and Collins), the meaning of “to dispose of” is “to get rid of” or “to give, sell or transfer to another”.
Thus, the above notice can only mean that the County Council intends to transfer title of the whole of the above 11 parcels of land, including Dafen Park, to another organisation or individual(s), either for money or for free. Past experience shows that when the County Council states that it is disposing of property it virtually always means that it is selling it, which is precisely the interpretation of a number of concerned Dafen residents who telephoned us on the morning of June 27th. In any event, even if the County Council intends disposing of Dafen Park for free it is of equal concern as selling it because control of the Park passes to another organisation or individual(s).
By placing the 11th parcel of land in the above County Council notice it reads “Notice is hereby given that Carmarthenshire County Council intends to dispose of Dafen Park…….”.
It is absurd to suggest that this statement can be interpreted as “the Council plans to lease a small area of the park to Dafen Cricket Club to facilitate the drawing down of grants…….”.
Given that this appears to be the County Council’s intention then one can only conclude that the above Council notice is disastrously misleading in the case of Dafen Park.
It is very important that a Statutory Notice be drafted carefully and precisely because it has a legal status and should certainly not be open to disputes over its content and meaning. This County Council notice falls hopelessly and frightfully short of this fundamental principle.
Plaid Cymru are naturally delighted that apparently the park is not being sold off and wishes Dafen Welfare Cricket Club every success in the future.
However questions do need to be asked…
1) Is this a total mess-up by the County Council?
2) Or is their response to our newsletter a cover up for something more sinister?
The County Council needs to be open, transparent and far more accurate when issuing their public statements.
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