Public land
In the UK public land is essentially land which is owned by the Government, or belong to part of the central government estate, which may include land of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Department for Transport (DfT), the Ministry of Housing (formerly the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities), Homes England, the Department of Health, Social Care or the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) or the Forestry Commission.
Public land is not the same as public access land, publically accessible land or common land, though some public land is for public access, for example some forests are publicly owned forests, managed by the Forestry Commission, which is a non-ministerial government department and are available to the public for recreation. On the other side of the spectrum some public land is run by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and in most cases is most definately not publically accessible.
The term common land is also sometimes used to refer to land in public ownership or to which everyone has access but this is incorrect. Land must be legally registered as a common to have such status. It is a popular misconception is that any person has a right to enter common land. Although this is usually the case, it is not automatically so, though there is a public right of access to nearly all common land under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. The laws as applied to common land are often the same as for any other piece of private land, other than for certain people who possess commoners’ rights. This is a complex and very locally-variable part of the law, and local advice should be sought about the exact status of the land and its users before using what might be common land.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings
- Access to Neighbouring Land Act 1992.
- Brownfield land.
- Brownfield registers.
- Common area.
- Common land.
- Commons Act 2006.
- Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.
- Green belt.
- Land law.
- Land register.
- Land value.
- Park.
- Planning condition.
- Property rights.
- Public Land Taskforce.
- Right of way.
- Right to access land.
- Ty unnos.
- Types of land.
- Village green registration.
Featured articles and news
BSRIA Statutory Compliance Inspection Checklist
BG80/2025 now significantly updated to include requirements related to important changes in legislation.
Shortlist for the 2025 Roofscape Design Awards
Talent and innovation showcase announcement from the trussed rafter industry.
OpenUSD possibilities: Look before you leap
Being ready for the OpenUSD solutions set to transform architecture and design.
Global Asbestos Awareness Week 2025
Highlighting the continuing threat to trades persons.
Retrofit of Buildings, a CIOB Technical Publication
Now available in Arabic and Chinese aswell as English.
The context, schemes, standards, roles and relevance of the Building Safety Act.
Retrofit 25 – What's Stopping Us?
Exhibition Opens at The Building Centre.
Types of work to existing buildings
A simple circular economy wiki breakdown with further links.
A threat to the creativity that makes London special.
How can digital twins boost profitability within construction?
The smart construction dashboard, as-built data and site changes forming an accurate digital twin.
Unlocking surplus public defence land and more to speed up the delivery of housing.
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill
An outline of the bill with a mix of reactions on potential impacts from IHBC, CIEEM, CIC, ACE and EIC.
Farnborough College Unveils its Half-house for Sustainable Construction Training.
Spring Statement 2025 with reactions from industry
Confirming previously announced funding, and welfare changes amid adjusted growth forecast.
Scottish Government responds to Grenfell report
As fund for unsafe cladding assessments is launched.
CLC and BSR process map for HRB approvals
One of the initial outputs of their weekly BSR meetings.
Building Safety Levy technical consultation response
Details of the planned levy now due in 2026.
Great British Energy install solar on school and NHS sites
200 schools and 200 NHS sites to get solar systems, as first project of the newly formed government initiative.
600 million for 60,000 more skilled construction workers
Announced by Treasury ahead of the Spring Statement.