Register of common land and town or village greens

The Commons Registration Act 1965 (CRA 1965) provides for the registration of:

• Land in England or Wales which is common land or a town or village green rights of common over such land
• Persons claiming to be or found to be owners of such land or becoming the owners thereof by virtue of the Act

Parts of the Commons Act 2006, which supersedes the CRA 1965, have now come into force. Information about common land and village greens, including existing and proposed legislation, can be found on the Defra website.

Registering land as town or village green

Section 15 of the Commons Act 2006 allows for the registration of new town or village greens. Anyone may apply to us to add land to the Register of Town or Village Greens. Under Section 15 (1) land can become Town or Village Green through 20 years use as of right by the inhabitants of the locality or of a neighbourhood within the locality. ‘As of right’ means without force, secrecy or permission and without the use being challenged in any way. The ‘locality’ and/or ‘neighbourhood’ must be defined by the application. The locality should be a legally recognised entity such as a civil parish or electoral division. A neighbourhood is more difficult to define. It does not need to be a legally recognised area but it should be more than just a line on the map - the area chosen must be sufficiently cohesive e.g. a village or a housing estate.

Under Section 15 (8) a landowner can apply to voluntarily register part of his/her land as a Town or Village Green. Applications of either sort should be made on Form 44, available below. For further information please contact:

Address:

Rights of Way & Access
Planning and Environment
County Hall
Walton Street
Aylesbury
HP20 1UY
Telephone 0845 3708090

Searching the registers

We maintain the register and process common land and village green searches. A Common Land and Village Green search will identify Common Land and Village Green registered over a particular area of land that you are interested in.

Request a Common Land and Village Green search - £15

The register entry and the map of Common Land and Village green are also available.

Request a copy of the Common Land and Village Green register - £11

Access land

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 gives people new rights to walk on areas of open country and registered common land. For further information, visit the Countryside Access website.