Background
Historically in England & Wales there has been land granted to Villagers for use for entertainment/enjoyment and allowing grazing/gathering and other rights. This often replaced land fenced when the Enclosure Acts were passed. The history is complicated, and various legal provisions have been made over the years to codify the rules.
It is worth noting the following:
- Commons and Greens have different rules, due to the different nature of the rights associated with them;
- In most cases, work on both require permissions beyond normal planning rules; this usually involves the Secretary of State;
- They are generally open access, though temporary limits can be imposed in line with the point above;
- The rights are unaffected by the land ownership. Landowners may have limited additional rights, but these do not restrict the ones granted to residents or rights-holders;
- Brancaster has an unusually high amount of such land.
Because of the complications involved, we refer people to other sources for the exact legal position.
Over time, we will add maps and further information.
Brancaster Staithe Harbour and Green
The wider Harbour Area consists of Village Green and Common, as well as limited private land. We will update this page in due course with detailed mapping.
The Village Green part of the Harbour Area is registered to the National Trust. They manage this land in consultation with the Parish Council. This is done through a Memorandum of Understanding, which is reviewed periodically – most recently in late 2023.
