HC Deb 10 March 1954 vol 524 c2223
25. Mr. Hayman

asked the Assistant Postmaster-General what steps he has taken to assure himself that the land which the British Broadcasting Corporation proposes to acquire for a television station on North Hessary Tor in the Dartmoor National Park is free from ancient common rights.

Mr. Gammans

This is a matter not for me but for the B.B.C., which is, I understand, at present looking further into the legal position.

Mr. Hayman

Will the Assistant Postmaster-General bear in mind that we have no desire to hinder the provision of this station but that it is felt that ancient common rights such as these, that have existed for a thousand years, should be adequately protected or properly extinguished by due process of law? Will he also remind the B.B.C. that as late as 1882 the Duchy of Cornwall said: The soil of the commons of Devon is claimed to belong to the Duchy equally with the soil of the Forest."?

Mr. Gammans

That is a matter into which the B.B.C. is now looking.