COMMON LAND
in England and Wales

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It’s not publicly owned - but we do at last have the right to walk there. It is historic land which has largely remained undisturbed and unploughed through the centuries - a remnant of medieval life, when people relied on common land for their survival.

There are 1.3 million acres of common land in England and Wales, registered in over 9,000 separate units covering all types of landscape and habitat - from the moors of Dartmoor and Bodmin in the south west, to the fells of the Lake District and mountains of Snowdonia, the Surrey heaths and the Norfolk coast.

Many commons have common rights registered on them - for grazing animals, collecting wood and bracken, digging peat or allowing the pigs to eat fallen acorns, for example.

Now we have the right to walk on all registered commons, subject to certain restrictions, under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and other legislation.  On many commons there is also a right to ride.

Check with your county council or unitary authority to see if the land is registered as common land. If it is and you have a problem, we’ll try to help you.

We are consulted by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the National Assembly for Wales about all applications for works on common land. We object unless there is a clear benefit to the public. Too many applications are for purely private gain - commons should be enjoyed by everyone.  In England from 1 October 2007, applications for works are made under section 38 of the Commons Act 2006.  Click here for Defra's website and the Planning Inspectorate's website.  In Wales, they continue to be under section 194 of the Law of Property Act 1925.
Common Purpose  published jointly on the English Nature website by English Nature, Defra, the Countryside Agency, National Trust and Open Spaces Society, is a guide to managing commons in the interests of everyone.

If you have a problem about the management of common land, contact Defra at Defra Publications, Admail 6000, London SW1A 2XX for a copy of its free guide.

Please see our book   

Our Common Land     New 6th edition    Paul Clayden MA
The law and history of common land and village greens
 ORDER NOW 

 

Unfinished business - Agricultural Use and Management of Common Land

Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, was a member of the government’s stakeholder working group on common land, which in April 2003 published its report: Agricultural Use and Management of Common Land. Here she explains the report’s main recommendations.

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