RESIDENTS' hopes to register a piece of land in their cul-de-sac as a town green have been dashed.

The Commons Registration Officer refused the application to register land at Willowbrook in Greytree, Ross-on-Wye as a town or village green.

The officer said the application did not meet all of the required legal tests to define the 1,000 square metre piece of open grassland as a town green.

A few of the street's residents said they used the grassland as a play area for social pastimes and community use.

But because the residents assumed the land was owned by the council because the council had maintained it, this implied there was a licence enabling the public to use it, which meant it failed the legal test required to make it a town green.

Cllr Jenny Hyde said: "That has been going on for a long time. An inspector had made the decision and it had gone properly through the whole system."