News

We are dismayed that Petticoat Lane in Newport, Isle of Wight, will be destroyed by Sainsbury’s development.  The society backed local objectors in their campaign to save the path.
The Isle of Wight Council endorsed the path-change and a public inquiry was held in January.  The public inquiry inspector, Peter Millman, has ruled that the path [...]

We have deplored Barratt Homes’ action last week to bulldoze The Ditches, a much-loved children’s play area, at Merton Green in Caerwent.  The Merton Green Action Group has applied to register the open space as a village green.
Monmouthshire County Council, the greens registration authority, will consider the application next week and there is likely to [...]

We are delighted at today’s unanimous judgment from the Supreme Court(1) which orders Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council to register Coatham Common(2) as a village green.(3)  The society backed local inhabitants in their bid to register the land.
In order for land to be registered as a green, local people need to show that a significant [...]

If you are a member of the Open Spaces Society and wish to fill in our 2010 membership survey online, please click here. Once you have completed the form, please ‘save as’ to your computer and e-mail it to ruthwalker@oss.org.uk as an attachment. The deadline for receipt of completed forms is 31 March 2010.

South Oxfordshire District Council has refused retrospective planning permission to a close-boarded fence, nearly two metres high, alongside the public footpath at Deanacre, off Deanfield Road in Henley-on-Thames.
Mr Philip Turner, of 2 Deanacre applied to the council to legitimise the fence which was erected unlawfully, without planning permission, last year.  It replaced a lower, post-and-rail [...]

We have praised Norfolk County Council for taking enforcement action on public paths in the county.  Last year the council served a notice on the landowner who had illegally blocked the public footpath which runs alongside Little Hautbois Hall, the £1.8-million Tudor mansion in the parish of Buxton with Lammas.  The landowner gave in and [...]

A High Court judge has ruled that gates erected across Barcroft Lane by Mr Brian Herrick, owner of the £3.8-million Barcroft Hall at South Petherton in Somerset, are unlawful.  They must now be removed.
On 17 February Mr Justice Cranston handed down his judgment in Herrick v Kidner and Somerset County Council, which is the triumphant [...]

The society is delighted to be working with TruGreen Professional Lawn Care and the Sunday Telegraph in promoting the first-ever ‘Liveliest Village Green’ competition.
All three of us invite you to join our celebration of our wonderful village greens.
If you think your village green is the liveliest in the UK, all you have to do is [...]

We are dismayed at the outcome of the long saga to prevent Epworth footpath number 74, 15 miles south-west of Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire, from being moved to an inferior route. 
We had backed local people, including its member Graham Wager of Epworth Turbary, in opposing the plan.  Following a public inquiry which ended in February [...]

The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has rejected an application for a driveway across Long Green and Spears Hill Common, at Wortham in Suffolk. 
Mrs KMP Smith, the owner of Deo Gratias which adjoins the common, had applied, under section 38 of the Commons Act 2006, for consent to construct an access [...]