The Open Spaces Society, which has campaigned for the protection of common land in the UK since the 1860s, is calling on local authorities and developers throughout England and Wales to make 2017 the Year of the Village Green, by voluntary registering their land as greens.

The society is asking developers to include registered village greens within their sites so that local people have a guaranteed green space for recreation which is preserved by law, and asking local authorities to register land so that it is protected, even after it is sold.

Town and village greens can be any land which has been enjoyed by local people for 20 years, without being stopped or asking permission. Landowners can also register their land voluntarily. Once registered the land is protected by section 12 of the Inclosure Act 1857 and section 29 of the Commons Act 1876, and local people have rights of recreation there.

In 2013, Defra caused a stir when it closed a legal loophole intended to prevent developers building on land used for recreation. Ministers claimed that allowing communities to submit village green applications for land already earmarked for development had been preventing development in rural areas, though public space campaigners contested the measure.

Discussing recent successes this week, Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society said, “If a planning authority considers that a developer should offer a mitigating benefit to the neighbourhood, it can insist that the developer registers part of its site as a village green. That provides a real boon to local people.
 
“The Open Spaces Society has persuaded Richmond Care Villages to dedicate as a green part of its development site at Coral Springs, Witney in west Oxfordshire.  This was in exchange for the society’s withdrawal of its objection to the diversion of a footpath leading to open countryside, which RCV had illegally obstructed with buildings.  The new green will give Witney people a pleasant space where they can enjoy informal recreation for ever more.”
 
Ashbrook said it’s especially important that local authorities take steps to protect public land now, as sell-offs associated with austerity measures risk leading to a further decrease in public space. The Open Spaces campaigner said, “Authorities are looking to flog off their land and the public is likely to lose out.”
 
There have been few examples of voluntary registrations by landowners, but in 2015 Kent County Council registered a green in Ramsgate following an application from the landowner, Thanet District Council, and in 2011 Barnoldswick town green was registered as a green by Lancashire County Council, following an application by Pendle Borough Council.
 
Ashbrook said, “There should be many more [examples]. We say that 2017 should be the Year of the Green, when local authorities and developers dedicate new greens for public enjoyment and give the public secure rights of recreation.”
 
The society has written to the chief executives of the Local Government Association, the Welsh Local Government Association, the National Association of Local Councils and One Voice Wales, asking them to remind their members of the opportunity voluntarily to register their land as greens, and to persuade planning authorities to require developers to do so.