The common land and town or village green registers hold details of extents, rights and ownership of common land and town or village greens, as registered under the Commons Registration Act of 1965 and the Commons Act 2006.
An authenticated copy of the official register and map can be obtained for £31.20 (inc. VAT) for each area of enquiry.
Common land unit numbers
Each area listed in the registers has a unique 'unit number', for example:
- the Riverside Nether Poppleton is register unit number CL92 - the prefix CL defines the land as common land
- the Foreshore Naburn is register unit number VG50 - the prefix VG defines the land as town or village green
Each unit number in the registers is divided into 3 sections:
Land section
The 'land section' includes a description of the land, who applied to register the land, and when the land became finally registered. There are also related plans which show the boundaries of the land.
Rights section
The 'rights section' includes a description of the 'rights of common' (for example, a right to graze a certain amount of sheep), the area of common over which the right is exercisable, the name of the holder of the right and whether the right is attached to land in the ownership of the holder of the right (the commoner), or is a right held in gross i.e. unattached to land.
Ownership section
The 'ownership section' includes details of the owner(s) of the common land. Entries in this section however, are not held to be conclusive.