The applications are to register these precious spaces as common land. If successful, they will give the public the right to walk, and in some cases to ride, on the land and will protect it from encroachment and development.
The applications will be determined by the commons registration authorities (county or unitary councils) based on the evidence which the Society has provided.
These commons are ones which, for a variety of reasons, failed to be registered during the three-year period allowed by the Commons Registration Act 1965. Part One of the Commons Act 2006 re-opened the door to their registration provided they remain today ‘open, uncultivated and unoccupied’.
The Society has already succeeded in registering a number of areas in Cornwall where the applications have been determined, for example Maenporth Beach; Cosgarne, Viscar and Carrine Commons, and land at Carn Brea.
Further applications in Cornwall include parts of the Lizard Peninsular and the north coast. In Devon, application sites include parts of Dartmoor and the north coast.
The Society’s painstaking work involved checking historical records and carrying out site visits, before preparing and submitting the application.
The work was severely hampered by the closure of the record offices during lockdown, and the difficulty in making site visits owing to the pandemic.
Despite these difficulties environment minister, John Gardiner refused to extend the registration period and the society has worked against the clock to get all applications in before the deadline.
Frances Kerner, the society’s re-registration officer, said: ‘We are relieved to have submitted, before the deadline, all the applications we considered worthy, and we look forward to them being processed and determined.”