Sedbusk village green

THE traditional village green, which in recent years has been under threat from housing and retail development, is making a comeback, according to one of England’s oldest conservation charities, the Open Spaces Society.

Village greens, for centuries a centre of rural life, grew out of ancient common land laws, which allowed locals to graze animals and collect hay and even firewood in some areas, but had largely become spaces for leisure activities or traditional festivals like Maypole dancing.

Interest in these activities declined in the last half of the 20th Century as many villages became centres for housing and other development. But they are now making comeback, says the society.

Reason for the resurgence is a little known piece of legislation, the Commons Act of 2006, which attempted to consolidate centuries of ancient laws and customs going back in some cases to the middle Ages.

But it also gave locals the legal right to protect their greens from development if they could prove they had been used for legal sports or pastimes for 20 years or more. According to the Open Spaces Society, there were 172 applications for such status last year, up from 77 in 2006.