RESIDENTS have just five days left to have their say on plans to give official Village Green status to fields in South Oxfordshire.

Oxfordshire County Council is running a public consultation on two applications for fields by the river near Dorchester-on-Thames.

Villagers made a Village Green application to the council after a new owner bought some of the land in that area in 2016.

Locals said they had used the fields and played sports on them for at least two decades and wanted to be able to carry on doing so.

The council is now running a public consultation on applications for Village Green status on two portions of land in the area.

One, which it calls 'Day's Lock', is a 2.37 hectare portion of land on the banks of the Thames by the lock.

The other is a 3.03 hectare plot at nearby Dyke Hills.

In the official application notice on its website, the county council states that both bits of land are 'claimed to have qualified for registration as a Town or Village Green on 1 November 2016 by virtue of use by inhabitants of the Parish of Dorchester-on-Thames and the Parish of Long Wittenham for lawful sports and pastimes as of right for a period of more than 20 years up to the date specified in the application'.

Members of public can find the full application and the consultation online at consultations.oxfordshire.gov.uk.

The council writes: "Your views and opinions matter. Please take the time to respond."

The public consultation closes on Friday at 11.59pm.