Major town and village green reforms come into effect

A number of signifcant changes to the law on registering new town and village greens came into force at the beginning of October.

Section 16 of the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 inserted a new Section 15C and Schedule 1A into the Commons Act 2006.

This excludes the right to apply for the registration of land in England as a town or village green where a trigger event has occurred in relation to the land. Examples of the nine trigger events include:

• The first publication of an application for planning permission for the land, which will include circumstances where planning permission is subsequently granted;
• The publication by the local planning authority of a draft local plan or neighbourhood plan proposal which identifies the land for potential development;
• The adoption or making by the local planning authority of a local plan or neighbourhood plan which identifies the land for potential development.

The right to apply for registration of the land as a green remains excluded unless and until a terminating event occurs in relation to the land.

The corresponding terminating events for the publication of an application for planning permission in relation to land include withdrawal of the planning application; and where permission is refused, all means of challenging the refusal in the UK are exhausted and the decision to refuse planning permission is upheld (or the time limit for an appeal expires without such an appeal being made).

The full list of trigger and terminating events is set out in Schedule 1A to the 2006 Act.

In July this year the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs consulted on additional trigger and terminating events.

Other changes taking effect on 1 October 2013 were:

• A reduction in the period of grace, where recreational use of the land as of right has ceased before an application was made, to one year;
• The introduction – via new sections 15A and 15B of the 2006 Act – of ‘landowner statements’ and the registers for recording them. Landowner statements can prevent land being registered as a town or village green; and
• Minor amendments to sl 31(6) of the Highways Act 1980, which allows landowners to declare that they have not dedicated their land as a highway. This is in order to align that system with landowner statements, Defra said. The relevant 10-year period has been extended to 20 years (in relation to declarations submitted on or after 1 October 2013), while a single application form allows for both highways statements and declarations, and landowner statements.

Defra has also recently published guidance to Commons Registration Authorities on sections 15A to 15C of the 2006 Act.

The Department claimed the changes meant that it would no longer be possible to block local development by making "spurious" village green applications.

“As well as having a negative effect on the rural economy and reducing the value of land – often by over 90% – this [abuse] reduces the availability of rural homes, facilities and hospitals across the country,” it said.

Defra suggested as well that the changes would save local authorities £1.3m a year, “as applications often lead to expensive and time-consuming public enquiries and court cases.”

It insisted that legitmate applications for TVG status would remain protected.

Rural Affairs Minister Richard Benyon said: “Towns across the country have been held back from getting the developments they want through misuse of the village green system. Rural communities need access to services like healthcare, schools and housing just as much as urban areas. These changes will allow that infrastructure to be built, creating jobs and economic growth.”

See also: Town and village greens – will the gaps in the system be plugged? By Antonia Murillo