Newton Green Trust

(Registered Charity No 271085)

Newton Green Trust exists as a Charitable Trust to own and manage the village green in Newton as well as providing recreational facilities and financial support to our village community.

Historically, the village green was “owned” (without documentary evidence) by the Lord of the Manor who granted grazing rights to various properties in the village. In about 1986, Roland Oliver, who was Lord of the Manor at the time, wrote a history of the village green and Newton Green Trust in which he described remembering “cattle, sheep, horses, goats and geese grazing on the green, and there was a time in more recent years when football and cricket matches were played on the green. This was something golfers had to accept, although in the last twenty to thirty years many of these old rights have not been exercised. Today, the ownership of the green and all the grazing rights belong to the Trust but the village still retains its rights over the green. Residents in the village have the right to play golf free of charge”. A right that exists to this day.

The historical status-quo in Newton changed with the enactment of the Commons Registration Act 1965 when the green was registered by West Suffolk County Council as a Village Green. This caused a significant amount of controversy in the village when, as part of the registration process, Roland Oliver’s claim to ownership of the village green as Lord of the Manor received several objections. After years of negotiations and legal wrangling, a compromise position was eventually reached when it was agreed that Mr Oliver as Lord of the Manor would be confirmed as owner of the village green without objection in consideration for him agreeing to transfer his interest in the land to a Trust that would be set up for the benefit of the village.

As a result of the compromise that was reached, Newton Green Trust was created on 5 March 1976 with the principal purpose of using the “rents and profits” from the use of the land known as Newton Village Green to provide recreational land with the object of improving the conditions of life of the public at large and the community of Newton in particular. The inaugural meeting of the Trust was held on 9 April 1976.

The original Declaration of Trust gave the Trustees “uncontrolled discretion” to determine which parts of the land owned by the Trust could be used for any particular recreational purpose. In addition, they were empowered to “apply all or any part of such rents and profits and proceeds or other monies” for the benefit “of the said community of Newton” at their discretion to include “the advancement of education, the protection of health and the relief of poverty and sickness”.

Whilst the Trust deed provided for the Trustees to have “uncontrolled discretion” to carry out works on the Village Green to provide recreational amenities in keeping with the objectives of the Trust, they were specifically forbidden to erect houses or other buildings not used for recreational purposes. The types of buildings mentioned in the Deed that would be acceptable include “refreshment rooms, pavilion summer houses or other buildings of a similar nature adapted to promote or improve the convenient use of the said land for the aforesaid recreational purposes”.

The Declaration of Trust also made provision for the number of Trustees being “neither less nor more than six in number so that:-

(a)    Two of the Trustees shall be members of the Parish Council

(b)      Another of the Trustees shall be the representative of the Parish Assembly

(c)       Another of the Trustees shall be the Lord of the Manor for the time being of the Manor of Newton, (hereinafter called “the Lord of the Manor for the time being”) or his nominee.

(d)      Another of the Trustees shall be a resident of the village of Newton in the County of Suffolk appointed by the Lord of the Manor for the time being.

(e)      The other Trustee shall be the representative of the Newton Green Golf Club.”

In addition, the “Chairman” of the Trust had to be a member of the Parish Council who would have a second or casting vote.

Newton Green Golf Club and Newton Green Trust

The principal source of regular income to the Trust since 1980 has been from a licence fee paid to it by Newton Green Golf Club for their shared use of the village green with the general public. Prior to that, the Club’s use of the green from 1907 when the Club was formed was less formal. According to Mr Oliver’s history of the Trust, to compensate the village for allowing golf to be played on the village green, the Club would “distribute at Christmas time 2 cwt of coal to every householder in the village, which was known as “Golf Coal”. This finished in about 1966, and then the Club paid the Parish Council £60 to be distributed in the form of a 7/6d voucher (to every household) until the Trust was formed”.

Whilst the Golf Club and village had coexisted with little more than a “Gentleman’s Agreement” for about seventy years, by the end of the 1970’s, the Club had become well established and needed a clubhouse with better accommodation and changing facilities. However, the Club was reluctant to make the investment to purchase land they had identified for a clubhouse without some form of security of tenure in order to continue playing golf on the green. Therefore, on 31 March 1980, the Club entered into a 28-year licence agreement with the Trust which provided the Club with the security of tenure they wanted in return for a licence. In addition, the Club agreed to cut the grass on the village playing field in addition to the golf course itself and continue to allow villagers to play golf on the course for free whether or not they were members of the Golf Club.

Moving forward to 2024, the Club currently benefits from a licence agreement entered into in 2017 for a 25-year period on terms that were agreeable to both parties. The main difference between the 2017 agreement and previous ones is that, in addition to villagers being able to play the nine holes on the village green part of the course for free, the 2017 agreement allows them to play the full 18 hole course for a fee equivalent to 50% of the full membership fee. This new villager membership was given the title of Villager Plus and has become quite popular with those villagers who simply want to play the full 18 hole course but don’t want the added advantages associated with being a Full member of the Golf Club.

What Does the Trust Do for the Village?

The six Trustees meet several times a year and communicate regularly in between in an effort to keep on top of the Trust’s maintenance and tree care commitments, legal and financial obligations as well as consider requests for funding from village organisations and charities. The Trust is in the fortunate position of having a regular source of income from the Golf Club so is always willing to assist with village projects when it can. In addition to making annual contributions to the British Legion and Christmas Parcels for villagers who have had a difficult year, in recent years, it organised and paid to Tarmac the car park beside the Saracens Head, has recently paid for the complete refurbishment of the village War Memorial which had become quite dilapidated and is in the process of making a contribution for the replacement of the Village Hall windows. Future goals include making improvements to unmade roads that still exist in the village and re-establishing the pond at the Saracens Head. Other less visible projects undertaken in recent years have included providing the owners of every house on the village green with a permanent easement to access their properties across the village green from the main road and negotiating with property developers wishing to obtain easements to cross Trust land to reach their proposed developments.

Members of the public are welcome to attend Trust meetings which are held in the Village Hall. Notifications of meeting dates can be found on Newton Green’s Facebook page and on village notice boards.

You can review the agenda for the forthcoming meeting and the minutes of the Trust meetings on the left, as well as the Suffolk Wildlife Trust Report regarding the ponds on The Green and other SWT leaflets

Newton Green and Newton Green Trust 1906 to 1986

Newton Green Trust Deed

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