Commons and Village Greens

Leicestershire County Council is the commons registration authority for Leicestershire and maintains the Registers of Common Land and Town and Village Greens.

The registers contain a variety of information about registered land (Common Land/Village Green), including a written description of the land, the recording of any rights of common exercisable over the land and details of ownership. There are also maps which show the extent of the registered land.

Common land

Common land is land owned by an individual, or individuals, over which certain other people have traditional rights. These rights mainly consist of the grazing of sheep and cattle, but they can also include the cutting of peat and turf, the taking of stones and wood, shooting rights and, in the case of bodies of water, fishing rights. The people who are able to exercise these rights are known as "commoners".

Village greens

Town and village greens originate in customary law where long standing recreational use of land came to be recognised. Town and village greens are areas of land where local people have taken part in lawful sports and pastimes over a period of time. The lawful sports and pastimes may include organised or informal games, such as football or cricket, picnics, fetes, dog walking or other similar activities. A town or village green can be under private ownership but the majority of town or village greens are usually owned or maintained by town and parish councils.

Unlike common land there is no general right of public access over town or village greens, which is instead reserved for use by local people. There is no distinction in law between a town green and a village green.

Inspection of Registers

01 January Covid update

The facility for personal inspection of the Commons and Village Green registers remains unavailable as a result of continuing Covid restrictions to safeguard the public and county council staff.

In the interim requests for any detail concerning the information contained in the registers  can be made by contacting the Legal Services section on 0116 305 7982 or e-mail commonland@leics.gov.uk

Work on the development of an online register is ongoing. In the interim appointments to view the registers held by the authority can be made by contacting the Legal Services Section on 0116 305 7982 or email commonland@leics.gov.uk.

Applications for Commons/Village Green registration

Anyone can apply to The County Council to register a town or village green. Please read the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) guidance on how to complete a town or village green application first. To apply to register a new town or village green you will need to complete the application form (Form 44), submit the correct Ordinance map and supporting evidence.

The evidence required to register town or village greens has to prove that the land has been lawfully used for 20 years for sports and pastimes by a significant group of people in the neighbourhood or locality.

Applications should be submitted to the Director of Law and Governance (Ref PT)
Leicestershire County Council, County Hall, Glenfield, Leics, LE3 8RA
Email: patrick.taaffe@leics.gov.uk

Commons Act 2006 - Applications for correction of registers

The Commons Act 2006 came into force on 15 December 2014. It contains a number of amending provisions to earlier Commons and Village Green legislation. Not all of it currently applies to Leicestershire. It does now mean that in certain circumstances the County Council's registers may be amended to deal with the following:

• Correct a mistake in the registers whether it has been made by the registration authority
• Deregister buildings wrongly registered as common land or town or village green
• Deregister other land wrongly registered as common land or town or village green
• Application forms to be submitted to the Director of Law and Governance

The deadline for applications for correction/deregistration is currently 15 March 2027. In certain circumstances a fee is payable - see further information below under 'Details of Application fees'.

Commons Act 2006 - Restrictions on Village Green designation by Landowners- Applications to deposit a statement under S15A of the Commons Act 2006

The Commons (Registration of Town or Village Greens) and Dedicated Highways (Landowner Statements and Declarations) (England) Regulations 2013 come into force on 1 October 2013. The new Regulations - The Commons Regulations - provide for applications to deposit a statement and map under S15A(1) of the Commons Act 2006.

The Commons Regulations contain provisions which:

1. Set out the form an application must take

An application must be in the form set out Schedule 1 of the Regulations (Form CA16) and must be signed by every owner of land to which the application applies. The application must be accompanied by an Ordinance map at a scale of not less than 1:10560 or refer to a map previously deposited at the appropriate authority.  This application must be accompanied by the correct fee as prescribed by that authority.

2. Permit combined applications under the Highways Act and the Commons Act

3. Set out the point at which an application is considered to have been deposited

An application made under the Commons Act is regarded as deposited when a valid application has been given to the appropriate authority. Applications made to the commons registration authority  under both the Commons Act and the Highways Act are regarded as deposited when that application is left at the County Hall, Glenfield, LE3 8RA (Ref: Legal Services).

4. Defines the duties of the authority upon receipt of a valid application

Upon receipt of a valid application, the authority must publish notice of the application on its website, serve notice on anyone who has provided the authority with an email address for that purpose and must put the application on display at or near an obvious place of entry to the land for no less than 60 days. This notice must be in the form set out in Schedule 2 to the Regulations.

5. Sets out the duty of a commons registration authority to keep a register of applications made under the Commons Act

This is a requirement of The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and the Dedicated Highways (Registers under S31A of the Highways Act 1980) (England) Regulations 2007 in addition to S15B(1) of the Commons Act. These state the information that the register must contain and the manner in which the register must be kept, specifically in both electronic and paper form. The electronic form must be made available on that authority’s website. If the information contains an error, that application may be removed from the website but only after 28 days’ notice has been given to the land owner prior to removal.  

Work on the development of an online register is ongoing. In the interim arrangements to view the registers held by the authority can be made as stated above under the Inspection of Registers heading.

6. Payment of the correct fee.

Please see below under heading 'Details of Application Fees'

7. Submission of the Application form- Form CA16 can be downloaded online- see below

Full details of how to make a deposit, a statement and map and the prescribed forms are available from DEFRA.

8. The Completed Form CA16 needs to be sent by post or delivered to: 

Director of Law & Governance (Ref: PT)
Leicestershire County Council, County Hall, Glenfield, LE3 8RA
Email: patrick.taaffe@leics.gov.uk
Telephone: 0116 305 6169
Accompanied with the correct fee