View common land and town and village green registers and how to apply to register a new town and village green.
Town and village greens
Land can be registered as a green if it's been used by local people for recreational pastimes for at least 20 years.
We're responsible for maintaining and updating the town or village green registers for land in Bristol and also processing new applications.
Find out if land is registered
You can find registered land by viewing our common land and town or village green registers on this page.
A copy of the below register can be made available to view during office hours. Call 0117 922 3000 to request an appointment or email: landcharges@bristol.gov.uk.
You can also contact us to request a search. See local land charges search for more information.
How to register a town or village green
Anyone can apply to have land registered as a green if it meets the legal criteria.
The owner of land can also apply to register that land as a green without showing previous use of the land for sports and pastimes.
If the land is leased for more than a seven-year term, or subject to a charge (or mortgage), then the consent of the leaseholder or chargeholder will be needed.
How to apply
- Read the Town and Village greens: how to register (DEFRA)
- Fill in the application for the registration of land as a Town or Village Green form 44 (GOV.UK)
Applicants must prove that the land has been used by a significant group of people in the neighbourhood for recreational pastimes, like picnics, games, fetes etc, for 20 years or more as of right (without the permission of the landowner).
Post to: Commons Registration Authority, Care of the Interim Service Director, Legal Services, PO Box 3399, Bristol, BS1 9NE.
What happens next
We'll check your application and if we need more information we'll contact you.
If your case isn't straightforward, we'll ask a qualified inspector to look at your application. The inspector will recommend if the land should be registered as a town and village green.
In complex cases, the inspector will hold a public inquiry to decide whether the land should be registered. In these cases the final decision is taken by our Public Rights of Way and Greens Committee (PROWG) which takes into account the inspector's recommendations.
PROWG is a committee of councillors from all political groups represented on the council.
Cost
There's no cost for an application to register a town or village green. However, there will be costs if you have legal representation.
How long it takes
An application to register a town or village green can take up to a year.
See pdf Town and village green application procedure (11 KB) for more information.
Landowner statements and deposits
Landowners may at any time make an application under the Highways Act 1980 identifying paths over their land they admit to having been dedicated as highways (if any). This is known as a Section 31(6) deposit.
The lodging of a deposit under Section 31(6) Highways Act 1980 may protect land from claims made by members of the public to add any extra public paths to the Definitive Map and Statement, which are based on evidence of public use.
Landowners can also protect their land from its registration as a town or village green, following long term recreational use, by submitting an application under the Commons Act 2006.
How to make an application
Fill in the Commons Act 2006: landowner statements, highways statements and declarations form CA16 (GOV.UK).
Cost
The fee for applications made using form CA16 is £300.
View the common land and town and village green registers
Common Land Register
- pdf CL1: Clifton Down (28 KB)
- pdf CL2: Snowdon Road/Manor Road (23 KB)
- pdf CL3: Highridge Green (32 KB)
- pdf CL4: Bedminster Down (21 KB)
- pdf CL5: Durdham Down (194 KB)
Village Green Register
- pdf VG4: Gore's Marsh (23 KB)
- pdf VG5: Kingsweston Down (24 KB)
- pdf VG6: Horfield Common (23 KB)
- pdf VG7: Novers Common (23 KB)
- pdf VG8: Penpole Point (23 KB)
- pdf VG9: Redland Green (23 KB)
- pdf VG10: Shirehampton Green (23 KB)
- pdf VG11: Land at High Street, Canford Lane, Westbury Hill (23 KB)
- pdf VG12: Canynge Square Gardens (23 KB)
- pdf VG15: Land at Caledonia Place (23 KB)
- pdf VG16: Lower Mall Gardens (23 KB)
- pdf VG17: Lower Mall Gardens (23 KB)
- pdf VG18: Clifton Green (23 KB)
- pdf VG19: Callington Road Field (23 KB)
- pdf VG20: Clifton Wood Community Garden (23 KB)
- pdf VG21: Ashton Vale (101 KB)
- pdf VG21a: Ashton Vale (24 KB)
- pdf VG21a: Ashton Vale map (374 KB)
- pdf VG22: Whitchurch Green (96 KB)
- pdf VG23: Grove Wood (91 KB)
- pdf VG24: Laundry Field (19 KB)
- pdf VG25: Wellington Hill (65 KB)
- pdf VG26: Bramble Drive (778 KB)
- pdf VG27: Higham Street Green (20 KB) , pdf Higham Street Green map (172 KB)
- pdf VG28: Colstons Field Bell Hill (45 KB)
- pdf VG28: Colstons Field Bell Hill Map (1012 KB)
- pdf VG 28: Colstons Field Bell Hill community map (390 KB)
- pdf VG29: Stoke Lodge (355 KB)
- pdf VG29: Stoke Lodge map (157 KB)
- pdf VG30: Ridgehill Green (80 KB)
- pdf VG30: Ridgehill Green map (833 KB)
Also see Common Land and Village Green maps Notices
- pdf Notice of Land at Ridghill, Henleaze (166 KB)
- pdf Notice of Amendment: Colston's School Playing Fields, Bell Hill, Bristol (15 KB)
- pdf Notice of Inquiry Colston's School Playing Fields, Bell Hill, Bristol (33 KB)
- pdf Notice of Inquiry Laundry Field (6 KB)
- pdf Notice of Land at Bramble Drive, Sneyd Park (68 KB)
- pdf Notice of Land at Crow Lane (14 KB)
- pdf Notice of Land at Tackley Road/Heyford Avenue (16 KB)
- pdf Notice of Land at Stoke Lodge Playing Fields (210 KB)
Inspectors recommendations published in advance of PROWG meetings
These reports contain recommendations to be considered by PROWG.
Recommendations are not decisions. Decisions in these cases are taken by PROWG.
Landowner statements and deposits
- pdf Brislington Cricket Club (1.80 MB)
- pdf Land at Brislington Meadows (2.77 MB)
- pdf Land at Ironmould Lane (287 KB)
- pdf Notice (Form CA17) of Landowner Statement for Land at Windmill Hill 12 August 2021 (159 KB)
- pdf Landowner Statement for land at Windmill Hill 9 August 2021 (3.46 MB)
- pdf Land off Woodgrove Road (2.22 MB)
- pdf Land at Oakleigh, Hicks Gate (546 KB)
- pdf Land on the north side of Staunton Lane, Whitchurch (565 KB)
- pdf Land off Bonville Road, known as Emery's Farm: plan (708 KB)
- pdf Land off Bonville Road, known as Emery's Farm: statement (769 KB)
- pdf Waterfront Place Harbourside (477 KB)