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Common land is land owned by one or more persons, where other people known as commoners are entitled to use the land or take resources from it.

Visit your local authority premises and check the commons register to find out about common land in your area.

Works you need consent for

You must get consent from the Planning Inspectorate on behalf of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to carry out any works that would prevent or impede access to common land or for works for the resurfacing of land.

These works could include:

• putting up new fences
• erecting buildings
• making ditches or banks
• resurfacing the land
• building new solid surfaced roads, paths or car parks

You should also consider if your proposed works would comply with the Secretary of States common land consents policy.

Extending existing works

If you want to extend existing works that were done legally and the work will impede or restrict access, you need to get consent.

If you want to extend existing works that werent done legally, you need to get consent for the new works and the existing ones.

Planning permission

You may also need planning permission for works, you should check with your local planning authority.

Environmental impact assessment (EIA)

Natural England may need to carry out an environmental impact assessment if the works youre planning could affect the environment of the common or surrounding areas.

Find out the land changes that need EIA consent.

Works you dont need consent for

Its your responsibility to make sure the works youre doing dont need consent.

You dont need consent to:

• add new stiles and gates in existing boundaries
• add direction signs and information boards
• create or widen existing unsurfaced or loosely surfaced footpaths
• add seats
• add shooting butts that are smaller than 10 square metres
• add temporary sheep pens for fewer than 28 days in one year, such as for separating sheep from lambs or lug tagging during a gather or drift
• burn heather or cut bracken, or manage vegetation by any mechanical means
• set out areas for sport or games including goalposts, provided they dont need any major permanent construction
• add a temporary shelter for fewer than 14 days in 1 year for animals that need emergency veterinary treatment
• add feeding and watering troughs, provided theyre proportionate to the number of animals that need to be fed
• add scrapes for grouse or lapwing
• add larsen traps or crow traps
• dredge and clear ponds or other bodies of water
• plant trees and shrubs that do not form a continuous barrier
• allow the Highways Agency to put up temporary snow fences

Works that are exempt

Some works, like erecting temporary fencing or putting up bollards are exempt in certain circumstances - this means you dont need consent to carry them out.

If you want to carry out these works, you must complete a notice of exemption and send it to the Planning Inspectorate.

You must also display a copy of your notice of exemption on the site where youre carrying out the works.

Erecting fencing for up to 6 months

You can erect temporary fencing on commons for up to 6 months to restrict the movement of grazing animals.

To do this, you must be:

• the owner of the land
• a commoner (anyone who has rights of common on the land)
• anyone acting with written consent of the owner

The area you want to fence off must not be bigger than either 10 hectares or 10% of the area of registered common land that its part of, whichever is the smaller area.

It cant exceed this size limit, either by itself or cumulatively with any other areas in the same area of registered common land which you have fenced off without section 38 consent.

If you fence off a piece of land for 6 months under this exemption, you must then remove the fences for 6 months before you can fence it off again.

Erecting fencing for up to 1 year

You can put up temporary fencing for up to 1 year (or up to 3 years on moorland) to protect vegetation if youre growing or restoring it.

The area you fence off must not be larger than 1% of the area of registered common land its part of.

It also cant have been enclosed within the previous year.

To do this, you must be:

• the owner of the land
• a commoner (anyone who has rights of common on the land)
• anyone acting with written consent of the owner

Erecting fencing for up to 5 years

You can put up temporary fencing for up to 5 years if youre restricting access to conserve nature.

The area you want to fence off cant be bigger than 1% of the area of registered common land that its part of, by itself or along with other areas in the same area.

To do this, you must:

• own the land or have written consent from the owner to prove youre working on their behalf
• have a written agreement with Natural England or the Secretary of State requiring you to conserve nature

Installing rows of obstacles

You can install a row of obstacles, such as bollards or large stones to stop vehicles accessing common land - it cant be greater than 200 metres in length.

You cant have more than one row of obstacles on your land (that is within a single land registry unit).

You can extend an existing row of obstacles, but the combined length of the original row and the extension cant be more than 200 metres.

You can only do this if vehicles accessing the land would:

• stop members of the public using it for recreation or commoners from exercising their rights of common
• damage the land

To do this you must be either:

• the owner of the land
• any other person acting with the written consent of the owner of the land

Apply for consent

Consult interested parties

Before you apply for consent to carry out works, you should talk to:

• the owners of the land
• the commons council or association (if there is one)
• all active commoners
• others with a legal interest, for example tenants, anyone who has an easement or other rights and covenants over the land
• any parish, district, city or county council in the same area as the land
• Natural England
• Historic England
• National Park Authority (if the area you want to work on is in a National Park)
• the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) conservation board or joint advisory committee (if the area of land you want to work on is in an AONB)
• the Open Spaces Society

If you can reach a consensus with these interested parties, this may make your application more likely to succeed.

You may also want to talk to:

• all known commoners (whether theyre actively using their rights or not)
• Wildlife Trusts
• Local Access Forums
• Campaign to Protect Rural England
• Ramblers Association
• local amenity societies if there are any in the area wher
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