Re-Registration of Common Land under Pt 1 of the Commons Act 2006
Part 1 of the Commons Act 2006 provides for the review, updating and keeping-up-to-date
of the commons registers. As part of this process, applications to register land
as common that failed under the 1965 Commons Registration Act may in certain cases
be
reconsidered. The cases that qualify are defined by Schedule 2(4) of the 2006 Act.
Where an application under Schedule 2(4) is successful, the land in question will
be added to the commons register (‘re-registered’).
The principal aim of these WebPages is to provide detailed information on the areas
of land that may be eligible for re-registration. The information is made available
through (i) a series of Search Sheets; and (ii) a set of Case Assessment Sheets related
to the Pilot Areas. The Search Sheets cover all of the English registers. The series
will, if it proves possible and necessary, be extended to cover Wales. The Case Assessment
Sheets offer an initial assessment of eligibility for each of the CL units listed
in the Pilot Area Search Sheets. For additional details on Northern England − which,
in terms of area, includes the greater part of England’s CL units − click HERE.
Practical advice for those pursuing applications is available through our Further
Information and Guidance page. The page includes links to the legislation, the regulations
and the official Guidance produced by DEFRA. For information on the implementation
timetable, and the projected ‘roll-out’ of Pt 1 subsequent to the pilot implementation,
see: Pilot Areas page.
The Search Sheets incorporate hyperlinks to the Commons Commissioners’ Decision Letters,
which have been made available online by DEFRA through the Website of the Association
of Commons Registration Authorities (ACRAEW). A revised version of the ACRAEW lists
– in which the links to the letters are arranged in order of the relevant CL (common
land) and VG (village green) numbers – is available HERE.
Existing research on Northern England (excluding Lancashire) shows there to be over
600 square kilometres of land in this area alone that may be eligible for re-registration.
More recent work on the rest of the country has produced a corresponding figure for
the pilot authorities of over 260 square kilometres; and an estimated total for England
and Wales of around 1900 square kilometres (Stats Table available HERE). The potential
public benefits of Schedule 2(4) are therefore substantial. Land added to the register
will enjoy the special legal protection afforded to common land. It will also be
subject to the public access provisions of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act;
or, may qualify as a s193 ‘urban’ common (in which case, the right of access would
extend to both walkers and horse-riders).
Schedule 2 includes related provisions concerning: (i) the bringing onto the registers
of land that is recognised under statute as a common or green but is not currently
registered (including the areas that were exempted from registration under the 1965
Act); (ii) the re-registration of town or village greens mistakenly registered as
common land; and (iii) the deregistration of certain areas of land that can be shown
to be wrongly registered. For an overview of these and related Pt 1 provisions see:
Other Provisions page.
[The full text of this Website can be downloaded HERE as a set of Explanatory Notes]
