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Outdoor enthusiasts have come together to tell the Independent Forestry Panel that access must be ‘at the heart’ of England’s future forestry policy and that access must be protected and guaranteed for future generations.

The Forest Access User Group, made up of 10 outdoor organizations, representing over 8 million people who regularly use woodland, have come together to issue their official response to the panel’s call for views on the future of forestry in England. The Independent Forestry Panel was set up in response to the public outcry over the proposed sale of the Public Forestry Estate and has been seeking the public’s views on the future of our forests.

The User Group argues that the Public Forest Estate is ideally placed to provide public access for everyone, from dog walkers to horse-riders and cyclists, and that this access provides huge benefits to health, well-being, economic development and education. The group also argues that access rights must be maintained and increased to ensure that they can be enjoyed for generations to come. Currently much of the access enjoyed by horse-riders and cyclists in our woodland is permissive, meaning that it could be taken away if the land is sold. The group believes access should be dedicated permanently to sure everyone can enjoy access to our woods now, and always.

A copy of the Forest Access User Group’s full response can be found here.

The Forest Access User Group is made up of the following organisations: The British Horse Society, British Mountaineering Council, British Siberian Husky Racing Association, Open Spaces Society, the Ramblers, Sport and Recreation Alliance, CTC, International Mountain Biking Association, British Orienteering and The Kennel Club.

Our former chairman Rodney Legg, the West Country’s rebel campaigner with a national reputation, has died of cancer, aged 64, on Friday (22 July).  Rodney was born in Bournemouth on 18 April 1947.

Well-known in the West Country for his numerous publications, on the history and landscape of Dorset in particular, he was also a national figure, serving as our chairman for 20 years (1989-2008) and on the National Trust council, also for 20 years (1990- 2010).

Through the Tyneham Action Group, which he founded in 1967, he pressed the Ministry of Defence into giving unprecedented public access to the Lulworth military live-firing range, and he persuaded the National Trust to open Max Gate, Thomas Hardy’s home at Dorchester, to the public in 1994.  He launched and led numerous crusades in the public interest, fighting them in his own, outspoken and eccentric manner.  He knew every inch of the Dorset countryside
and wrote countless books of walks.

While our chairman he campaigned to save many commons, greens and paths, and in 2004 he won public access to 640 acres of land in Dorset and Somerset (under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000).  He was sharply critical of the secrecy and lack of democracy which pervaded the National Trust, arguing that the trust should publicise all its land on Ordnance Survey maps, open up illegally-blocked paths on its land and allow public access wherever possible, as well as purchasing land, rather than stately homes, for public enjoyment.

Caricature chairman: Dorset cartoonist Danny Byrne captures Rodney Legg in action, sawing and snipping offending vegetation that was blocking Stinsford footpath 8, near Thomas Hardy's birthplace in Dorset.

Says our general secretary Kate Ashbrook, who worked with Rodney for 30 years: ‘Rodney was an unusual but extremely effective campaigner.  You could never predict what he would say or do, but people always listened to him.

‘Although he was a huge irritation to the National Trust for many years, challenging its stuffy old ways, he made a difference, persuading it to open up secret properties and to become much more welcoming. By the time he stood down from the council the old hostility had changed to a respect bordering on affection.

‘He rarely wore a suit or tie, and arrived at formal meetings as though he was fresh from a Dorset exploration, always with an impish grin.  He was impossible to ignore.’

When Rodney stood down as the society’s chairman in 2009 we presented him with a Celtic head, at his request, to add to his collection.

Rodney will be buried at Higher Ground Meadow, Corscombe in Dorset on Saturday 30 July.  For details of the funeral please contact Kate Ashbrook on hq@oss.org.uk or call 01491 573535.

We have slated the draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), published for consultation yesterday (25 July) by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Read more here.

The society argues that it proposes demolition of the planning system which has served the country well for more than 60 years.

Says Nicola Hodgson, our case officer: ‘The framework puts the presumption firmly in favour of development. This, together with the financial incentives for development highlighted in the Localism Bill, will undermine the protection of the environment and, in particular, open spaces which are so important for the public.

‘We are particularly concerned about the proposed new Local Green Space designation. This must not be a replacement for national designations, or for the current laws which protect village greens. Existing environmental protection must be maintained.

‘In April, we published ‘A Framework for Green Space’ setting out what the new designation should achieve, but it appears that DCLG has ignored our proposals. We said that the new designation must guarantee permanent protection and must place on the local authority a duty to protect the land, together with powers of enforcement, through the courts if necessary.

‘It is now proposed that the designation should form part of the neighbourhood plan—but such plans can only specify more development, not less.

‘The designation is stated to be “not appropriate for most green areas or open space” so it is difficult to see how it will work in practice. It will not be statutory, as was originally proposed, and it must not overlap with green belt designations, which are themselves threatened by the proposals.

‘Nor is it clear what the role of the local planning authority will be in protecting and managing these new green spaces.

‘We fear for the future of the vital countryside close to people’s homes, and we shall make a robust and critical response to these pernicious proposals,’ Nicola concludes.

We are disappointed at the tone and content of the consultation from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on the registration of new town and village greens. Read more here.

Says our case officer, Nicola Hodgson: ‘The basis for the consultation, that there is an abuse of the legislation, is contrary to research provided to Defra in 2009 which found no evidence that the current system is flawed.

‘The stated aim of the consultation is to “effect a better balance between protecting high-quality green space valued by local communities and enabling legitimate development to occur where it is most appropriate”. This appears to undermine the system which allows registration of local people’s rights to use land for lawful sports and pastimes when they have used it for over 20 years.

‘We are dismayed that Defra’s options include introducing an additional character test on top of the existing requirements, charging a fee and excluding any land proposed for development.

‘We had already submitted to ministers our proposals for limited changes to the guidance and regulations to speed up and improve the registration process. We shall continue to argue that there is no case for major reform, which would be contrary to the public interest,’ Nicola argues.

We are seeking the views of our members and will be submitting a robust response to Defra.

The London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) has applied for planning consent for ‘temporary structures’ for viewing the sailing events during the 2012 Olympic Games at the Nothe, Weymouth in Dorset and to keep people out during the games.

We have objected, arguing that the structures will be an ugly intrusion in the lovely park, and will prevent the public from enjoying traditional free access there.

Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary: ‘The so-called structures include a mass of paraphernalia, such as tents, cabins, compounds and vehicular accessways. They will have a devastating effect on the lovely, historic Nothe Gardens, where people have enjoyed free and unfettered access.

We have urged the council to reject this application and to tell LOCOG to site the viewing structures elsewhere, not on public land. It would be deeply regrettable to charge people to enter parkland where they have always had the right to roam free.’

‘It is astonishing that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) failed to mention common land in its recent White Paper, The Natural Choice: securing the value of nature. Common land uniquely provides a wealth of public benefits, for wildlife, landscape, history, archaeology and enjoyment.’

So said Paul Clayden, our vice-president, opening our annual general meeting on Tuesday 5 July.

‘The White Paper is all about the value of nature. On common land, our natural resources are likely to be better protected and enjoyed than elsewhere, because commons have remained largely undisturbed through history, and the public has the right to walk on all and to ride on some.

‘So it is extraordinary that commons get no mention from Defra. And yet there is a great deal of unfinished business.

‘Defra and the Welsh Government have failed fully to implement part 1 of the Commons Act 2006, now nearly five years old, which enables people to apply for “lost commons” to be included on the common-land registers, giving public access to these areas and securing their protection. In England, this provision has been implemented in only seven areas, in Wales it hasn’t been implemented at all.

‘This is now a matter of urgency, and I hope that, at the society’s annual general meeting next year, I can report that the arrangements for rescuing lost commons are fully up and running throughout England and Wales,’ Paul concluded.

Friends of the Lake District want to make the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks bigger.

Natural England is asking for your views on the proposed boundary extensions to the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks now.

Friends of the Lake District, the Campaign for National Parks and their key supporter group, which includes the Open Spaces Society, has produced some background briefing materials to help you better understand some of the issues and learn about the benefits National Park status brings with it.

The proposed extension areas are:

Lake District:
· Birkbeck Fells to Whinfell (area between the A6 and M6, which includes Friends of the Lake District’s land at High Borrowdale);
· Helsington Barrows to Sizergh Fell and Lyth Valley (area between Brigsteer and Levens villages south east of Kendal).

Yorkshire Dales:
· Middleton, Barbon and Leck Fells (east and north of Kirkby Lonsdale);
· Firbank Fell (west of Sedbergh);
· Northern Howgill Fells;
· Mallerstang and Wild Boar Fell (south of Kirkby Stephen).
· Orton Fells

This is a fantastic once-in-a-lifetime opportunity so please respond before 1 July 2011 by clicking here.

We have once again criticised the Localism Bill, the Government’s flagship measure for giving people power to run their local communities. The bill is due for a second reading in the House of Lords on Tuesday 7 June.

Our case officer Nicola Hodgson, says: ‘We believe one of the bill’s most important aspects should be the care and future of open spaces but it lacks any clear idea of what is needed and is a muddle of conflicting provisions’.

The society considers that the most worrying threat to open spaces is contained in the new general powers given to local authorities in Part 1. Says Nicola ‘Even with the limitations proposed, we are concerned that the general powers could be used to enable local authorities to do whatever they want with open spaces and public access land.’

The society wants the Government to undertake that the bill will not bypass existing legislation in order to authorise a local authority or government minister to use, appropriate or dispose of land which is subject to special protection or conservation, and will not relax any existing procedures relating to that land.

Nicola continues: ‘We believe the bill should exclude open spaces held in trust for the public, and rights of way dedicated as highways from modification under the general powers.

‘We remain concerned that much of the detail in Part 4 (community empowerment, assets of community value) is to be dealt with by regulations, giving ministers wide-ranging powers to interpret the legislation as they wish, and without returning it to parliament.

‘The bill is being paraded as offering opportunities for local communities and empowering them, but this will not be the case in practice. Every local authority is required to compile a list of land of community value in its area, to remain on the list for up to five years; however the purpose of the list is not explained.

‘We cannot see how the bill provides any new protection for open spaces which local people enjoy for informal recreation and, by including such land on the list, it may encourage the owner to dispose of it.

‘The bill does not refer to the proposed ‘new designation…. to protect green areas of particular importance to local communities’, which is in the business plans for the Departments for Communities, and Local Government, and Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Instead of there being a statutory basis for the designation it is merely referred to in the draft of the National Planning Policy Framework, from the Practitioners’ Advisory Group,(1) with no information about how the process will work.

‘We have called on members of the House of Lords to question these points at the second reading on Tuesday 7 June. This bill needs to be amended if it is to offer adequate protection to open spaces which are enjoyed by local people and to enable local people to play a part in their protection,’ Nicola concludes.