An area of National Trust land on the north coast in Cornwall have been made as ‘common land’.

Cornwall Council has granted two applications to register common land near St Agnes.

One of the applications was made by the Open Spaces Society and the other by member of the public Tomas Hill, who has a keen interest in common land.

The land, which is owned by the National Trust, comprises just over 170 hectares of grass and scrub stretching from Newdowns Head all the way round the coast to just north of Porthtowan beach, about two kilometres west of St Agnes.

The Open Spaces Society explained that in 1970, the Ramblers’ Association made an application to register the land as common. Following objections, it was agreed among the parties to cancel the provisional registration of the land, but there was no opportunity for wider public engagement.

However, part 1 of the Commons Act 2006(3) reopened the opportunity to rescue lost commons that had been excluded from registration in these circumstances. As part of the Act the land became eligible for re-registration.

The applications made by the society and Tomas Hill showed that the land remained waste land of a manor, so that once again it could be registered as common land – this time for good.

Frances Kerner, the Open Spaces Society’s commons re-registration officer, said: “While the land is already afforded the protection of ownership by the National Trust, registration as common confers an additional layer of protection.

“We thank the National Trust for recognising that the land meets the criteria for registration; this has enabled the unsatisfactory outcome of over 40 years ago to be put right.”

The Open Spaces Society was founded in 1865 and is Britain’s oldest national conservation body. It campaigns to protect common land, village greens, open spaces and public paths, and people’s right to enjoy them.

Common land is land that is subject to, or previously subject to, ‘rights of common’ – such as the right to graze animals or collect wood – or waste land of the manor not subject to rights.

The public has the right to walk on nearly all commons, and to ride on many, and any work on common land requires the consent of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.