The Chief Commons Commissioner directed East Sussex County Council (ESCC), as the registration authority, to register Horsted Keynes Parish Council as the owner of the Land Section of Register Unit VG.25 in the Register of Town or Village Greens maintained by ESCC on 6^th December 1972.

The Chief Commons Commissioner directed West Sussex County Council (WSCC), as the registration authority, to register Horsted Keynes Parish Council as the owner of the Land Section of Register Unit VG.71 in the Register of Town or Village Greens maintained by WSCC on 14^th February 1977.

The Local Government Act 1972 changed the boundary between East and West Sussex, and whereas Horsted Keynes was in the former before 1974, when the changes came into effect it was in the latter after that. The Village Green was first registered in East Sussex (Units VG.25 and VG.31), and then its registration was moved to West Sussex (Units VG.69 and VG.71).

The legal protection is that the designation as a village green protects the public's rights of access and recreation across the land. The only development permitted is for the better enjoyment of the green for sports and pastimes (e.g., Boules Pitch).