This Is Guernsey

By Gemma Hockey

ONE of the island’s leading advocates has questioned the legal right of ownership by the man who bought fiefland at Cobo.

John Langlois, a Castel parish advocate for more than 30 years, said Tom Holroyd’s purchase of land under the company name A W Holdings Corp from Kathelene Holroyd was vague.

Advocate Langlois, who was a former States member, said he was angry about the whole matter.

‘We don’t want some smart chap holding the parish to ransom,’ he said.

‘The essence of society is a way of living together.

‘The whole thing is very sharp. The next step will be for Mr Holroyd to prove what right he has got.

‘I have seen the conveyance of the land and it is extremely vague.

‘There is no clear title, so legally it appears that Mr Holroyd is on a rather unstable footing.

‘He may own the land, but on what basis?,’ said Advocate Langlois, a Castel resident.

He said the placement of boulders by Mr Holroyd, which blocked the entrance and exit to the car park near Sandpiper-owned Checkers last week was utterly disgraceful.

‘I think the action taken is wholly manipulative by the seigneur ‘Mr Holroyd’.

‘He is trying to extract money,’ he said.

‘The representatives of the parish are now working for the good of more than 4,000 people by trying to reach an accommodating agreement between the conflicting parties.

‘What we don’t want is some bullish foreigner coming into the area, trying to disrupt our way of life.’

Advocate Langlois said it might mean the States could step in and purchase the small piece of land which made up the car park, but the matter might be for the courts to decide.

‘If he has paid £50,000 for the fief, then the car park must be worth about £2,000. Then the States could acquire it.

‘How much is the value of a very small area of land?’

He backed claims by parish representatives that the fishermen had rights to the land.

‘The legal rights of the fishermen go back way before the 17th century,’ said the advocate and former conseiller.

‘The fishermen used to put their boats on that land. It was their right to do that and they could throw their nets on the area to leave them to dry,’ he said, adding that the fishermen had every right to cover the car park with nets and vraic from the beach.

Article posted on 29th January, 2008 - 12.00am