Campaigners are celebrating the opening up of common land 12 years after it was fenced off.

A parish council has now taken possession of the land, near Storrs, west of Sheffield, on the edge of the Peak National Park.

The Open Spaces Society (OSS) had supported Bradfield Parish Council’s bid to have Lee Moor Common, a two-acre site, opened up for the public. It was designated a village green in 2003. Lengthy court action has resulted in the granting of a possession order to the parish council for the land and the removal of the fences, which had been put up by a resident of nearby – and charmingly named – Dungworth.

The Commons Act 2006 allows councils to take on stewardship of village greens where there is no known owner.

OSS general secretary Kate Ashbrook said “Bradfield Parish Council has set an excellent example with its persistence and determination to save this land for local people.

“It has been costly in both time and money, but the result has made all that effort worthwhile.”