[2008] EWHC 556 (Ch), 6 March 2008. Appellant (W) appealed against an adjudicator's decision that refused to cancel an application by the respondent local authority (P) to alter the land register. W had been registered as the proprietor of a freehold with possessory title according to the Land Registration Act 2002. P sought closure of part of W's title as it asserted that he had not established the title through adverse possession as was claimed. The issue to be determined was whether P's application to alter the register was a matter of private or public law. Held: appeal allowed. Local authority's application to alter the land register to close part of a registered proprietor's title to land on the foreshore was a matter of private law. As the local authority did not have standing under private law, the adjudicator was required to strike out the application under the Adjudicator to Her Majesty's land Registry (Practice and Procedure) Rules 2003.