Campaigners enjoyed a celebratory walk around Ely Common at the weekend, just days after it was officially registered as a village green.

Cambridgeshire County Council’s planning committee approved the recommendations of a public inquiry held earlier this year to grant the land village green status.

The new status gives the land protection from development and allows the public ongoing access.

The first application to give the common, adjacent to Roswell Pits and Prickwillow Road, village green status was made in 2007 and rejected two years later.

A second application by Frank Richards, on behalf of the Local Campaign for the Protection of Rural Ely, now called Ely Wildspace, was made in 2010 and an inspector confirmed in the summer that the necessary criteria had been met.

The land is owned by Jalsea Marine Services and Thomas Parsons Charity, which both objected to the village green application.

At the weekend, dozens of Ely Wildspace members took a trip around the common to mark its new protected status.

Chairman Liz Hunter said: “We are absolutely delighted because it gives a binding protection to Ely Common and allows people to use and enjoy it.

“We would like to thank everybody who supported us financially and in spirit and particularly to Frank Richards. Ely Common will continue to be a place where people can walk and children can play.”