The lord of the manor ... and a medieval feud over new luxury homes
IN medieval times, the lord of the manor was happy to let villagers graze their livestock on his common.
But in one prosperous Home Counties parish, the prospect of a multi-million pound development at its edge has led to a feud.
And it has turned positively feudal, with the current lord of the manor, retired solicitor David Baldwin, invoking his ancient title’s rights to try to block the plans.
Mr Baldwin, 74, is Lord of the Manor of Chalfont St Peter in Buckinghamshire, which also covers the nearby town of Gerrards Cross.
He inherited the title from his father, who bought it for £100 in 1962. It comes with rights that date back to the 14th century over the 70 acres of Gerrards Cross Common.
He is using them to try to prevent Glynis Stanning, 67, a marketing director, from demolishing her £2million house and building a terrace of four luxury houses with views over the common and pond, plus basement parking for nine cars.
Council bosses have granted planning consent. But the case has reached London’s High Court after Mr Baldwin claimed he has rights over the access track leading to Mrs Stanning’s house and that she cannot use it ‘for the purpose of building’.
He and his sister Katharine Barber, who jointly inherited the manorial title in 1986, also dispute that Mrs Stanning can pass her rights of way on to future owners.
The siblings claim the development would put an intolerable strain on picturesque Gerrards Cross and ‘create a public nuisance’ due to increased traffic. But Mrs Stanning says their claim about her proposed development, minutes from a modern high street and a train station, is ‘preposterous’.
Barrister Philip Sissons, representing Mrs Stanning, said Mr Baldwin wrote to her in November 2017 claiming her development ‘ would involve an encroachment on the common’. Keen to avoid delay, Mrs Stan
‘Father paid £100 for title in 1962’
ning offered to pay £100,000 to bypass the lord of the manor’s objection, he said. But negotiations broke down, prompting Mrs Stanning to go to court. Mrs Stanning wants a ruling that she can pass on full rights of access to future owners of her new-build houses, without the lords of the manor interfering.
Mr Baldwin, who lives eight miles away in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, and his sister are ‘joint freehold owners of the common as the Lords of the Manor of Chalfont St Peter’, the court heard.
The siblings are seeking a court order ‘ restraining the development’ – or alternatively compensation. Barrister Paul Wilmshurst, representing Mr Baldwin and Mrs Barber, said they had at one point ‘ briefly sought to negotiate a price for the grant of the rights’.
They later decided the scale of Mrs Stanning’s project was unacceptable. But Mr Sissons told the court: ‘For Mr Baldwin and Ms Barber to set themselves up as protectors of the public interest is nonsense.’
He claimed they were ‘ prepared to grant Mrs Stanning sufficient rights to carry out her development – provided the price was right’. Mr Sissons said: ‘Their suggestion that Mrs Stanning’s development might decimate or destroy an otherwise rural idyll is preposterous. There is already significant ... traffic over this particular access.’
Mrs Stanning’s father built the house on the common in 1979 and left it to his daughter when he died in 2008.
The green idyll, which is used by dog walkers and for sports, is managed by the council.
Mrs Stanning has made an ‘open offer’ to bear the cost of repairing the access track, the court heard.
The judge will give his ruling at a date yet to be set.