Latest News

Coastal land in Cornwall registered as common 

March 18, 2024

We welcome Cornwall Council’s decision to grant two applications to register common land on the north coast of Cornwall. One of the applications was made by the society and the other by Tomas Hill who has a keen interest in common land.  The land, which is owned by the National Trust, comprises just over 170…

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Access is a vital element of the Sustainable Farming Scheme in Wales

March 11, 2024

We have responded to the Welsh government’s consultation on the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS), whereby money is given to landowners and farmers to deliver public goods.  We warmly welcome the SFS and are pleased that it offers landowners and farmers the opportunity to provide improved public access.  We believe this public good to be of…

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Land restored as common on Dartmoor 

February 29, 2024

We welcome the Planning Inspectorate’s decision to grant the society’s two applications to register as common three parcels of rough grassland near Blackdown Common, Mary Tavy, in the Dartmoor National Park.  Two of the parcels are adjacent to each other, east and south of Willsworthy car park.  Together, these amount to about 33 hectares.  The…

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Path-block shock

February 22, 2024

In January, the BBC revealed the shocking results of its survey on the state of public paths in England and Wales.  Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, comments on these findings. Paths, it showed, are blocked at 32,000 points, that is one obstruction every four and a half miles—and the problems are growing. Seventy three of…

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Court threat causes Cornwall Council to climb down over unrecorded path 

February 21, 2024

We are delighted that Cornwall Council has capitulated in the face of court action, led by the British Horse Society (BHS), against the council’s failure to register applications to add public paths to the official map as required by law. [1] The BHS had applied in September 2023 for a path at Altarnun (11 kms…

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The disposal of open space on Swansea’s Kilvey Hill

February 19, 2024

Swansea Council advertised notice of disposal of open space on Kilvey Hill, under section 123(2A) of the Local Government Act 1972, in anticipation of the council granting planning permission for the massive Skyline leisure development on the hill.  The Open Spaces Society was among many objectors, arguing that the disposal was contrary to the council’s…

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We help to save Mucklewick Hill, Shropshire, from disfigurement 

February 14, 2024

We are delighted that Shropshire Council’s planners have rejected an application for a 15-metre-high telecommunications mast with ancillary equipment on Mucklewick Hill in the Shropshire Hills National Landscape.  The hill is 15 miles south-west of Shrewsbury, and six miles north-east of Bishops Castle in south Shropshire.  The society, the Shropshire Area of the Ramblers, and…

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Our new representative in Spelthorne Borough, Surrey 

February 9, 2024

We have appointed Ashley Redsell as our local correspondent to watch over the commons of Spelthorne Borough in Surrey.  Ashley will keep a close eye on developments in Spelthorne, and where attempts are made to take over common land, he will work with the borough and county councils, and local residents to prevent this destruction. …

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Manifesto for the London mayor

January 31, 2024

The society is a member of the More Natural Capital coalition of 19 organisations which has set out its top ten priorities for the London mayoral election on 2 May 2024. We are particularly pleased that the manifesto supports our Open Spaces Charter and our call for new town and village greens. We urge our…

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Land at Nesfield, North Yorkshire, restored as common 

January 16, 2024

We have welcomed the Planning Inspectorate’s decision to grant the society’s application to register as common approximately one third of a hectare of land in the village of Nesfield in North Yorkshire (just over two miles north-west of Ilkley).  The land comprises two pieces of grassland separated by a path which leads from Gill Lane…

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