If you are a landowner, you can apply to protect your land from new public rights of way claims or town and village green applications by making a Landowner Deposit. Use this page to find out how to make a Landowner Deposit.
The legal process
We have a legal duty to process claims to record public rights of way and register land as town or village greens.
A public right of way, such as a footpath or a bridleway, may be recorded if it is shown that there has been at least 20 years of uninterrupted use by the public. A town or village green may be registered if it is shown that the inhabitants of a locality or a neighbourhood within a locality, have used an area for at least 20 years for lawful sports and pastimes.
If you are a landowner, you can make a Landowner Deposit to acknowledge any existing public rights of way across your land, and state that no additional rights of way or town and village greens have been dedicated.
You will need to follow this with a declaration and renew this every 20 years. In that case, any public use of the land during the period of the declaration(s) will not count towards the 20 years necessary to establish new rights. This gives you an effective way of protecting your property against new rights being accrued.
This process does not extinguish any pre-existing public rights of way (whether recorded or not).
Fees
Fees for Landowner Deposits are listed in the table below:
A 'parcel' of land is defined as a single area of land not broken or separated by land owned by another person. For example, if you have two fields separated by a hedge or fence, this would constitute a single parcel of land.
| Item | Details | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Statement Registration | Registration of the initial statement including Part B for a single parcel of land | £251 |
| Additional Parcel Registration | Inclusion of each additional separate parcel of land in the initial statement | £32 |
| Declaration Registration | Registration of the follow up declaration including Part C for a single parcel of land | £251 |
| Additional Parcel Registration | Inclusion of each additional separate parcel of land in the follow up declaration | £32 |
How to apply
To make a Landowner Deposit, you need to complete the relevant form:
You need to send the completed application pack to us through our online form.
What happens next
Once we receive your application and plan, we will check this against our definitive map. We will contact you to confirm that we have registered your deposit.
If we confirm the Deposit, we will add the details of the deposit to our public register.
You will need to keep copies of your deposit, and ensure you renew the application within 20 years. The responsibility for submitting this application will lie with the landowner or anyone who inherits the relevant land.
View the register of deposits
You can view public notices of landowner deposits on our online register.