Under the Commons Act 2006, land can be registered as a town or village green if it can be shown to have been continuously used as of right for lawful sports or pastimes for at least 20 years by a significant number of inhabitants of the neighbourhood.
The frequent use of town or village green applications to prevent development prompted the government to introduce three changes to the law through the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013:
- a reduction in the deadline for bringing in town and village green registration applications from two years to one year
- giving landowners the right to lodge a formal statement with the commons registration authority which has the effect of interrupting any ongoing period of recreational use. (These two changes are not yet in force.)
- finally the Act prohibits applications once the land has been allocated for development - including a proposed allocation - or is the subject of a planning application. This moratorium lasts until the allocation is no longer in place, or the land is no longer subject to a planning application or permission. (This change came into effect immediately on 25 April 2013)
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG)
has published a further consultation which seeks to tighten the ‘trigger events’
after which people cannot apply for village green protections for land and the
situations, and ‘terminating events’, under which restrictions to register a
piece of land as a village green are lifted.
Consultation on registration of new town or village greens runs until Monday 19 August 2013 and can be read here.
Consultation on registration of new town or village greens runs until Monday 19 August 2013 and can be read here.
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