Developers beware!

09/06/2010

By Roy Willis, Partner in Commercial Property & Development.

Local people have the right to apply for registration of a new green if they have used the land as of right for lawful sports and pastimes for over twenty years. If successful there will be a legal right to use the land for those purposes which will prohibit building on the green even with planning permission.

A recent case held that even where local people used the land alongside the landowner by keeping off the golf course when play was in progress the land could still be registered as a village green.

Recreational rights do not override the landowner's rights but if the landowner has plans for future development he or she will need to take active steps to keep local people off the land completely.