KCs pick the legal bones out of fried chicken

THE future of Turbo Island rests on questions like whether eating fried chicken counts as a picnic and is a rave similar to morris dancing.

- ALEX SEABROOK

A public inquiry into registering the corner of Stokes Croft and Jamaica Street in Bristol as a village green has finished, with a decision due in October.

Lawyers made their closing submissions on Thursday and Friday. The barrister leading the inquiry will now spend weeks writing a report examining the legal arguments, before Bristol City Council’s public rights of way and greens committee has the final say.

Registering a plot of land as a town or village green means it’s protected from development and the public must have access. The application was made by Benoit Bennett, from the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft. Out of Hand, the advertising company which owns the land and the billboard, objected to the application, as did Avon and Somerset Police and National Grid.