Town and village greens

Portsmouth City Council compiles, maintains and, if appropriate, amends the registers of Town and Village Greens for the Portsmouth area, including Cosham, Drayton, Farlington, and Paulsgrove.

The register is held at the council. To view or request a copy, call 023 9268 8788.

Land is not a town or village green unless it is registered. Registration of land as a town or village green gives rise to rights for those who live in the same locality as the land to indulge in sports and other pastimes, not only the activities which justified the registration of the land as a green.

There are 3 types of town or village greens:

• statutory greens
• customary greens, which means those based on historic use, developed by custom, long before any living memory of any other use
• prescriptive greens, which means those based on long use – 20 years.

Section 15 of the Commons Act 2006 sets out the criteria for the registration of land as a new village green. However, there have been changes to this law since 2013, as described on the government website.

The Commons Act 2006 stated that land may be regarded as having become a town or village green where it can be shown that a significant number of the inhabitants of any locality, or of any neighbourhood within a locality, have indulged as of right in lawful sports and pastimes on the land for a period of at least 20 years;

• and they continue to do so at the time of the application for registration; or
• where the use of the land as a town or village green ceased after the commencement of section 15 (6th April 2007) and the application for registration is made within the period of two years beginning with the date such use ceased; or
• where the use ceased before 6th April 2007 and the application for registration is made within the period of five years beginning when the use ceased.

The owner of land can also voluntarily register land as a village green.

The Open Spaces Society has more information on village greens.

For more information on registering a town or village green, an application form and guidance notes, contact the Administrator and Registrar of Village Greens at the council on 023 9268 8788.

The council’s role is dealing with registrations of greens so, although we can tell you all about the registration procedure, we cannot give you legal advice about registration of town and village greens – in general or in any particular case.

If you require legal advice or interpretation of the law, you must seek your own independent advice.

Completed application forms should be sent to Legal Services, Administrator and Registrar of Village Greens, Mezzanine Floor, Civic Offices, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth PO1 2PX.