When visualising a village green, an idyllic square with a pond, cricket pitch and war memorial will most likely come to mind. Small strips of scrubland, concrete quaysides, disused quarries and car parks will be far from the imagination. Yet thanks to a law dating back to 1857, the most unlikely of locations can officially be classed as a village green – the highest form of land protection in the UK. They’ve become the holy grail for Nimbys, who strive to secure classification for local plots of land, however big or small. Once granted this golden status, spaces are shielded from development indefinitely, regardless of their ownership. Last month, a resident in Bristol – where more than 40,000 people are on the housing waiting list – was blocked from building a home at the end of his cul-de-sac after neighbours secured village green status for the plot. They argued the land is used for summer picnics, the occasional tea party and that it had simply become a “place to stop and chat” while taking a shortcut to the nearby Tesco. For land to become a village green, residents must prove it has been used for either “sports, pastimes and recreation”...