Countryside Agency and Successors: Maps of Open Country and Registered Common Land...

Pieces 1-442 are paper copies of conclusive (final) maps of registered common land and open country in England. They were produced by the Countryside Agency in 2004-2005 under section 9 of the Countryside and Rights of Way (CROW) Act 2000, in preparation for the introduction of new public access rights. The conclusive maps were issued following consultation on draft maps and a subsequent process of appeals against provisional maps. Each map shows part of one of eight areas of England, with registered common land shown in green and open country in yellow. The maps are based on Ordnance Survey material and their scale is 1:25000.

'Registered Common Land' is land registered as common land under the Commons Registration Act 1965. 'Open Country' is land that consists wholly or predominantly of mountain, moor, heath or down, and is not registered common land.

in 2010 Natural England

Topics

Common land

Maps and plans

Part I of the Countryside and Rights of Way (CROW) Act 2000 imposed a duty on the Countryside Agency to prepare maps showing registered common land and open country in England.

This was carried out through an ‘Open Access Mapping Project’. This Project split England into eight areas for mapping: South East England; Lower North West England; Central Southern England; Upper North West England; North East England; South West England; West England; and East England.

The Project first gathered information from data sources (such as common land registers, local authority maps, habitat surveys and aerial photographs) and an open invitation to supply information. It then produced draft maps, in digital form, using Ordnance Survey mapping as the base. The draft maps were issued in November 2001 on the 'Section 4' mapping website, and paper copies were sent to statutory consultees. These included access authorities, English Nature, the Ramblers Association and local access forums. 28,000 comments were received and input on a database, the information was reviewed, the original decision checked and if necessary the maps revised.

Following the determination process, provisional maps were issued in October 2002. Appeals were then considered from persons having a legal interest in land which they believed had been wrongly identified as registered common land or open country. The appeals process was overseen by the Planning Inspectorate, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State. If appeals were successful, the provisional maps were amended.

After the appeals process, the conclusive maps were signed off and issued between May 2004 and October 2005. They are to be reviewed every ten years.

Some land was excepted by Schedule 1 of the CROW Act, such as land covered by buildings, or within 20 meters of a dwelling, parks and gardens, quarries, railways and tramway, golf courses, racecourses and aerodromes, Ministry of Defence land, etc.