Excuse me, how can I buy Jaywick beach? (From Gazette)

Excuse me, how can I buy Jaywick beach?

5:00pm Wednesday 2nd September 2009

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A PRIME piece of real estate is sitting unclaimed and ownerless, according to a resident who wants to snap it up.

Mick Masterson believes Jaywick’s white sands have no legal owner.

He has launched a legal bid to register ownership of the beach on behalf of two community groups, Jaywick Forum and Friends of Brooklands.

The beach is a becoming an increasingly popular tourist destination, and has recently had millions of pounds of sand added to it to protect homes from flooding.

Mr Masterson, who lives in the resort’s Brooklands estate, hopes that with a little work, it could become a venue of choice for Londoners looking to spend their cash on a party location.

He wants to increase tourism in Jaywick and bring in more cash to the community – ranked as the third most deprived ward in the UK.

Among the plans he is considering are a yacht parking space and romantic beach weddings.

He admits his application is a long shot, but said: “It’s worth a go. I am convinced there is not an owner of the beach.

“We could bring the people of London up to have functions on the beach. If we can get it, we are looking at activities and families. It is to do with tourism and bringing people in.

“Apparently, there are quite a few people that own beaches, but not communities.”

If his application is approved by the Land Registry Office, the beach will be taken over by the community groups.

Peter Rickett, a spokesman for the Environment Agency, which was widely believed to be the beach’s owner, said: “We don’t own the land.

“We were unable to determine who owns it. We believe it may be owned by the local authority, but it says it is not its.”

He said land below sea defences is automatically owned by the crown.

However, the recent beach replenishment works have raised the beach above the sea defences, meaning it can now have a legal owner.

Spokesmen for Tendring Council and Essex County Council both confirmed they did not own the beach.

Stephen Lansley, head of conveyancing at Ellisons solicitors said: “It is going to be very difficult to create ownership.”

He said anyone wanting to take ownership of an unclaimed piece of land would first have to prove that it did not already belong to someone else.

They would then have to fence it off for ten years, denying access to the public, openly, and without anyone else raising dispute over their ownership of the land.

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