The Court of Appeal decision in this case has been overturned. The House of Lords agreed that, in principle, a claim that the use of a town or village green was "as of right" could be defeated if the landowner had given implied permission. However, on the facts of this case, the owners had not done so. The Lords held that an implied permission could only be given through overt conduct indicating that the inhabitants were using the land by the owners' temporary or revocable licence.

Note added 23.05.2014: In R (on the application of Barkas) v North Yorkshire County Council and another [2014] UKSC 31, the Supreme Court held that Beresford was wrongly decided and should no longer be followed.