RESIDENTS have until midnight tonight to support or object to plans to turn private farmland in South Oxfordshire into an official 'village green'.

Oxfordshire County Council is running a consultation on two applications for land near Dorchester-on-Thames.

Villagers applied for the protective status after a new owner bought land in the area in 2016. The applicants said locals had used the land for sports and other pastimes for more than 20 years.

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’.

See the consultation and have your say at consultations.oxfordshire.gov.uk