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Village greens – displaying of notices

The possibility of registering open land as a town and village green under Commons Act 2006 continues to cause many headaches for developers. Considerable publicity was given to the decision of the Supreme Court in Redcar [2010] where a registration was allowed in respect of land owned by the local authority which formed part of a golf course, but which was also used by local residents for informal recreation. It was held that their use had been ‘as a right’ even though they had deferred to the golfers if golf was in play. 

Village green – ‘as of right’?

A village green can be registered if ‘a significant number of the inhabitants of any locality... have indulged as a right in lawful sports and pastimes on the land for a period of at least 20 years’.

Village green - ‘as of right’?

The Supreme Court has handed down an important judgment about village greens, after unanimously finding that locals had been using a local area ‘as of right’, even though they had always deferred to its use by golfers (and left when asked to do so by golfers).

A village green can be registered if ‘a significant number of the inhabitants of any locality... have indulged as a right in lawful sports and pasttimes on the land for a period of at least 20 years’.

Village green - 'as of right'
The indications are that the courts are becoming less draconian in their enforcement of the registration of village greens. Perhaps they feel that the reforms introduced by the Commons Act 2006 now allow them to take a more even-handed approach.
Village Greens - Summary
Section 15 Commons Act 2006 allows land to be registered as a ‘town or village green’ where:

‘A significant number of the inhabitants of any locality, or of any neighbourhood within a locality, have indulged as of right in lawful sports and pastimes on the land for a period of at least 20 years.’
Village greens - the new law
The new law on village greens came into force on 6 April. A village green can now be registered if:
Commons – Form CR1 to go
Form CR1 (Commons Registration Search) is being abolished as from 1 June. After that date, you simply make your commons registration search as a Supplementary Enquiry on CON 29 Part II (ie there is no longer any need for a separate Commons form).
Village green - Commons Act 2006
The Commons Act will bring yet more changes to the law on village greens, as from April 2007.
Village Greens - what next?
The HL decision in the Oxford case provides some clarification as to when a village green can be registered under s22(1) Commons Registration Act 1965. The starting point, of course, is that any ‘town or village green’ is registerable if it can be shown that the ‘inhabitants of any locality indulged in lawful sports and pastimes as of right for not less than 20 years’.
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