On 12 February, the Supreme Court handed down its ruling in the matter of TW Logistics vs Essex County Council, shedding new light on the rights of various parties around the registration of town or village greens (TVGs).

The case concerned a working quayside owned by TW Logistics and used by that landowner for commercial activities, such as cargo storage and logistics operations, as well as by local inhabitants for general recreation. In spite of the fact that the land in question is concrete dockland rather than a traditional village green, in 2010 Essex County Council accepted an application to register the land as a TVG because it had been used “as of right” for sports and pastimes by large numbers of local inhabitants for the past two decades. Essex County Council considered that the use of the quayside for running, dog walking and socialising by local residents had afforded it the qualities necessary to meet the statutory criteria for a TVG.

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