April 2017 – Battles on the village green

Those of us managing private rural estates will most likely have a small fi eld or patch of land in the village that is owned by the estate but also used by the local community, maybe due to a footpath that crosses it, or if it forms what is viewed by many as the ‘village green’. The use of this land can often become a contentious issue due to the confl ict of uses on the land and the variety of assumptions made by local people as to the use of ‘their’ land.