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John Sparks, chairman of the Outdoor Writers' and Photographers' Guild gives Kate Ashbrook the guild's golden eagle award - a Dartmoor painting by David Bellamy.

Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, has won the Outdoor Writers� Guild Golden Eagle Award⁽¹⁾ for services to the outdoors.

Receiving the award, Kate said: �The outdoor writers have been a great support to our campaigns to get all paths open, to win freedom to walk responsibly over open land, and to protect our beautiful landscapes for all to enjoy. We have leapt some great hurdles, with the Countryside and Rights of Way Act in England and Wales and the Land Reform (Scotland) Act bringing us new freedoms to enjoy the fresh air.

�But too many public paths are still blocked, cropped and ploughed�in England one in three is difficult to use, and in Wales one in two. This is despite the huge benefit which the enjoyment of public paths brings to the rural economy, and despite the fact that these are public highways in law, just like any road, which it is a crime to obstruct.

�We have recently won a new law enabling the public to take enforcement action against unlawful works on commons in England and Wales, but only where the encroachment was erected after 28 June 2005. This means that the bulk of the existing encroachments will remain, despite the public now having the right to walk on all commons.

�So there�s plenty still to do, and the small but effective Open Spaces Society will be at the forefront of those battles to secure our birthright to enjoy the freedom of our paths and spaces,� says Kate.

^(1). The Outdoor Writers� Guild was founded in 1980 and comprises writers, photographers, journalists, illustrators, broadcasters, film-makers, artists, publishers and editors, all actively and professionally involved in sustainable activities in any outdoor setting. The Golden Eagle Award is given annually to someone who has rendered distinguished or meritorious service to the outdoors generally. www.owg.org.uk

We call for Natural England to be common-land champion
17 October 2006 top of page

We have called for the new government body Natural England⁽¹⁾ to champion common land, by ensuring that staff and resources are devoted to this vital issue. In the autumn issue of our magazine Open Space, we say that, in August 2006 it was agreed that work on common land should be a �major project (flagship initiative)� for Natural England.

Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary, in her Opinion article: �This is encouraging, until one discovers that there is so far only one member of staff, Mr Graham Bathe, working on this project. Graham Bathe is to run a flagship initiative, but without a fleet.

�Common land is central to all the interests of Natural England. Indeed ministers have already publicly recognised Natural England as a �champion for common land� in debates leading to the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 which established Natural England.

�We recognise that Natural England is short of funds but, by caring for our commons, it can deliver so many of its objectives, for public enjoyment as well as protection and enhancement of the landscape, its flora and fauna. So money spent on commons is money well spent for us all,� Kate declares.

^(1). Natural England was established on 1 October 2006. It was formed by bringing together English Nature, the landscape, access and recreation elements of the Countryside Agency, and the environmental land-management functions of the Rural Development Service. Its purposes include promoting nature conservation, conserving and enhancing the landscape, facilitating the understanding and enjoyment of the natural environment, promoting access and recreation, and contributing to social and economic well-being through management.

Certain provisions of Commons Act 2006 come into force
17 October 2006 top of page

Defra has made a commencement order (http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/20062504.htm) which brings into force certain provisions of the Commons Act with effect from 1 October 2006.

The provisions include:

Section 45 (re-enacted power of local authorities over unclaimed land)
Section 51 (repeal of power to apply for statutory easements for vehicular access across common land etc)
Partial repeal of section 13(a) of Commons Registration Act 1965 (power to apply to voluntarily de-register common land and town or village greens)
Paragraph 6 Schedule 4 (enables any person to enforce against unlawful works constructed after 28 June 2005).

An explanatory note of all the provisions commenced or now in force is available on the Defra website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/issues/common/pdf/provisions-commenced.pdf

New power for public to protect commons
2 October 2006 top of page

We have welcomed a new power for the public to take court action against unlawful works on English commons, which comes in to force on Sunday 1 October under the Commons Act 2006⁽¹⁾.

Says our case officer, Nicola Hodgson: �We have long campaigned for this law. Too many of our commons are abused, by unlawful fencing, buildings and car parks, erected without the consent of the Secretary of State for Environment. Yet the public has been powerless to act. Until now, we have had to rely on local authorities to take action but they have been unwilling to do so because for them it is only a power and not a duty.

�From 1 October, members of the public, including our society, may apply to the county court for the removal of unlawful works erected on commons in England since 28 June 2005. While this is a great step forward, we are sorry that the powers are limited to encroachments since that date. Our list of examples of unlawful works all precede that date. But we shall now be on the look out for new works erected without consent, so that we can take swift action,� Nicola continues.

�We have published an information sheet (C2) telling people how to take action, and we shall be pleased to encourage our members and others who want to exercise their new power. Unfortunately the new provisions cannot be used again the fencing and electricity generator on Weston Common, Basingstoke in Hampshire; the builders� yard at Thurston Common in Suffolk, or the fencing on Poor�s Acre at Great Brickhill in Buckinghamshire, and many other encroachments. These are some glaring examples of common-land abuse, but they were all erected before 28 June 2005. But they illustrate the type of problems which, if they were to occur now, would be actionable by the public.

�We hope people will make good use of their new powers, which will help to restore our commons to their former, unspoilt state. And we look forward to these provisions being implemented in Wales,� Nicola concludes.

^(1). Paragraph 6 of schedule 4 of the Commons Act 2006, which comes into force on 1 October 2006, enables any person to enforce against unlawful works constructed on common land in England after 28 June 2005.

Councillors give go-ahead to save open space
14 September 2006 top of page

We are delighted that Oxfordshire County Council�s Planning and Regulatory Committee has voted that Trap Grounds, open space in north Oxford, can be registered as a town green⁽¹⁾. The Friends of Trap Grounds⁽²⁾, backed by the society, have been campaigning for many years to save this important open space.

Says Nicola Hodgson, our case officer: �This is a landmark case, not only for Trap Grounds itself, but also because there are many spaces which people have been campaigning to have registered as greens to protect them from development⁽³⁾. On 24 May 2006 the Law Lords⁽⁴⁾ ruled that the Trap Grounds could be registered, and we have been waiting for the committee to make a final decision and register the land.

�The Friends of Trap Grounds reversed a damaging judgment in the Court of Appeal⁽⁵⁾. Now, applicants for greens only have to prove that they have used the land for recreation until the date of their application. Previously, if a landowner challenged the use at any time before the land was registered, the application would fail. With a hostile landowner, this challenge was inevitable,� Nicola explains.

�In the leading judgment, Lord Hoffmann said that people had an unqualified right to engage in lawful sports and pastimes, clarifying what had been an unclear area of the law.

�We are delighted that the Friends of Trap Grounds have finally succeeded, and that registration will protect the land for future generations to enjoy,� Nicola concludes.

(1). Land can be registered as a town or village green if it has been used by local people for �lawful sports and pastimes� (ie informal recreation) for 20 years freely and openly. The registration authority is the county or unitary council.

This case concerns the nine-acre Trap Grounds in North Oxford, owned by Oxford City Council which wants to develop it for housing. Catherine Robinson, of the Friends of Trap Grounds, applied to Oxfordshire County Council to register the land as a green, on the grounds that local people had used it for recreation for 20 years. She applied in 2002, and in 2003 the city council erected notices saying �Private property. Access prohibited�. Oxfordshire County Council applied to the High Court for a ruling on a number of issues and Mr Justice Lightman ruled in favour of the Friends of Trap Grounds. Oxford City Council appealed to the Court of Appeal which overturned many of Mr Justice Lightman�s points. All three parties petitioned the House of Lords.

(2). The Friends of Trap Grounds is led by Catherine Robinson. See www.trap-grounds.org.uk

(3). The legislation which protects greens from encroachment and development is section 12 of the Inclosure Act 1845 and section 29 of the Commons Act 1876.

(4). The judgment is Oxfordshire County Council (respondents) v Oxford City Council (appellants) and another (respondent) (2005) and others [2006] UKHL 25. The judges were Lord Hoffmann, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe and Baroness Hale of Richmond. The judgment is at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldjudgmt/jd060524/oxf-1.htm

(5). The Court of Appeal case is Oxfordshire County Council v Oxford City Council and Catherine Mary Robinson [2005] EWCA Civ 175. (Ms Robinson was not against registration but had petitioned against elements of the previous judgment.) The judgment can be found at http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2005/175.html

Common-land thieves beware: Commons Act 2006
21 July 2006 top of page

We have welcomed the new Commons Act 2006, which received Royal Assent on 19 July 2006. This is the end of a 40-year campaign for the society which, since the last major legislation on common land in 1965, has lobbied for a better deal for commons in the public interest.

Says Nicola Hodgson, our case officer: �For many years the society has campaigned for the public to have the power to take action against unlawful works on common land⁽¹⁾. At last, the new Commons Act gives the public powers to act against unlawful works erected after 28 June 2005, without the consent of the Secretary of State for the Environment or the National Assembly for Wales. The society intends to be in the front line when it comes to legal action.

�Once these provisions in the new Act take effect, probably next year, we shall be ready to take action against anyone who breaks the law by erecting fencing or other works on registered commons without the necessary consent. We want people to inform us of any unauthorised works which have been erected since 28 June 2005.

�The society also welcomes the clarification of the law which makes it easier for applications to be made to register land as town or village greens⁽²⁾. We are delighted that our efforts have paid off and the bill includes clarification that landowners can only defeat an application in limited circumstances. The new provisions will enable many more applications to succeed, and the land will be protected for use by future generations,� Nicola argues.

�The society and our member Miss June Perry from Nottingham were instrumental in obtaining a government amendment to the bill to allow registration of recreational allotments as village greens, a welcome provision which will give the land increased protection. Furthermore, owners will be allowed to dedicate land as a village green, following our suggested amendments to the original bill. We shall encourage them to do so.

�The Commons Act will, among many other things, enable the establishment of statutory commons councils with powers to manage agricultural activities on commons in a more sustainable manner. It will also �modernise� the registration of common land and common rights,� explains Nicola.

�When commons were registered in the late 1960s, only three years were allowed and many were left off the registers. The result was that they ceased to be commons in law. The new Act allows a limited reopening of the registers, for instance where provisional registrations in the 60s were cancelled or withdrawn. We welcome this. It is estimated there could be between 300 and 900 such applications. If this land were now placed on the register, it would have better long-term protection. Possible candidates are High Leck Fell at Tunstall, near Kirkby Lonsdale in Lancashire; West Common and Herdship Fell near Middleton-in-Teesdale, County Durham, and Hurst Moor near Marrick in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, North Yorkshire�to name a few,� Nicola continues.

�Moreover, the Act makes it clear that manorial waste can now be registered where it has been severed from the manor. This means that land at Aldershot in North East Hampshire and Surrey, including Bullswater Common, Elstead Common, Hankley Common, Holton Heath and Weston Common, will benefit from new provisions and may be registered as common land⁽³⁾. In order to assist individuals and voluntary groups to make such applications we are urging the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the National Assembly for Wales to make available the material needed and to publish electronically maps of provisionally registered land.

�Although the Act does many good things for commons and greens, we are sorry that the government missed the opportunity to give a duty to local authorities to take action against unlawful works on common land and to vest ownerless commons in an appropriate body.

�The society will continue to campaign about these issues to ensure common land has the best possible protection for the future and remains open and unenclosed for the public to enjoy�, concludes Nicola.

Link to Defra's news release
Link to the Commons Act 2006

^(1). The current law is that, if anyone wishes to erect a fence on common land, he must obtain the consent of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs or the National Assembly for Wales, under section 194 of the Law of Property Act 1925. Applications must be published in local newspapers, and the Open Spaces Society, as the leading voluntary organisation concerned with the protection and management of commons, is consulted. These arrangements will continue under the new Act.

^(2). Land can be registered as a town or village green if it has been used by local people for �lawful sports and pastimes� (ie informal recreation) for 20 years freely and openly. The registration authority is the county or unitary council. The legislation which protects greens from encroachment and development is section 12 of the Inclosure Act 1845 and section 29 of the Commons Act 1876.

^(3). The House of Lords in Hampshire County Council v Milburn (1991) overturned a previous decision of the Court of Appeal in re Box Hill (1979), and held that land remained manorial waste in law, despite severance from the lordship of the manor, and so qualified for registration. Prior to this such areas could not be registered. The Commons Act allows, in certain circumstances, for waste land to be registered.

Law Lords give green light to green spaces
24 May 2006 top of page

We are delighted that the Law Lords⁽¹⁾ have today ruled that Trap Grounds, open space in north Oxford, can be registered as a town green⁽²⁾.

The Friends of Trap Grounds⁽³⁾, backed by the society, have been campaigning for many years to save this important open space.

Says Nicola Hodgson, our case officer: �This is a landmark case, not only for Trap Grounds itself, but also because there are many spaces which people have been campaigning to have registered as greens to protect them from development⁽⁴⁾. Many such applications were put on hold, pending the outcome of this case. Thanks to this judgment, they have the green light.

�The Friends of Trap Grounds have reversed a damaging judgment in the Court of Appeal⁽⁵⁾. Now, applicants for greens only have to prove that they have used the land for recreation until the date of their application. Previously, if a landowner challenged the use at any time before the land was registered, the application would fail. With a hostile landowner, this challenge was inevitable,� Nicola explains.

�In the leading judgment, Lord Hoffmann said that people had an unqualified right to engage in lawful sports and pastimes, clarifying what had been an unclear area of the law.

�Just a few examples of the many applications which will, as a result of this judgment, now have a chance of succeeding are:

� Land at Loughton Lane, Theydon Bois, Essex
� Land at Heath Hayes, Cannock, Staffordshire
� Station Meadow, Didcot, Oxfordshire
� Henley Green, Coventry
� Land at Bloxwich, Walsall
� Mengham Park, Hayling Island, Hampshire
� The chalk pit, Wargrave, Berkshire
� Marsh Close, Mill Hill, London
� Buckingham Fields, London Borough of Richmond
� Land at New Greens, St Albans
� St Mary Cray, Orpington, London Borough of Bromley

�We are delighted that the Friends of Trap Grounds have won and we urge Oxfordshire County Council to register the land as soon as possible - thereby saving it from Oxford City Council�s plans to develop it,� Nicola concludes.

1. The judgment is Oxfordshire County Council (respondents) v Oxford City Council (appellants) and another (respondent) (2005) and others [2006] UKHL 25. The judges were Lord Hoffmann, Lord Scott of Foscote, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe and Baroness Hale of Richmond. The judgment is at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200506/ldjudgmt/jd060524/oxf-1.htm

2. Land can be registered as a town or village green if it has been used by local people for �lawful sports and pastimes� (ie informal recreation) for 20 years freely and openly. The registration authority is the county or unitary council.

This case concerns the nine-acre Trap Grounds in North Oxford, owned by Oxford City Council which wants to develop it for housing. Catherine Robinson, of the Friends of Trap Grounds, applied to Oxfordshire County Council to register the land as a green, on the grounds that local people had used it for recreation for 20 years. She applied in 2002, and in 2003 the city council erected notices saying �Private property. Access prohibited�. Oxfordshire County Council applied to the High Court for a ruling on a number of issues and Mr Justice Lightman ruled in favour of the Friends of Trap Grounds. Oxford City Council appealed to the Court of Appeal which overturned many of Mr Justice Lightman�s points. All three parties petitioned the House of Lords.

3. The Friends of Trap Grounds is led by Catherine Robinson. See www.trap-grounds.org.uk

4. The legislation which protects greens from encroachment and development is section 12 of the Inclosure Act 1845 and section 29 of the Commons Act 1876.

5. The Court of Appeal case is Oxfordshire County Council v Oxford City Council and Catherine Mary Robinson [2005] EWCA Civ 175. (Ms Robinson was not against registration but had petitioned against elements of the previous judgment.) The judgment can be found at http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2005/175.html

(See previous news articles - 27 March 2006, 8 September 2005 , 2 March 2005 & 27 January 2004)

Now or never chance for commons
13 April 2006 top of page

As the nation seeks out green spaces for recreation this Easter weekend, Members of Parliament face a last chance to save common land from erosion and exploitation. The government�s Commons Bill has its second reading in the House of Commons on Tuesday [18 April]. The Open Spaces Society is urging MPs to press for tougher laws to save commons from abuse.

Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary: �This Bill could provide a last chance to protect our precious commons from encroachment and neglect. Although the law requires anyone wishing to erect a fence, building or other work on a common to obtain the consent of the Secretary of State for Environment or the National Assembly for Wales, too often this law is ignored. This means that countless commons are degraded by unlawful fencing, buildings, car-parks and other paraphernalia. The public has the right to walk on every common, and to ride on some commons too, and these encroachments prevent us from enjoying our rights. They also mar the natural beauty of the land.

�Because no one has a duty to take action against unlawful works, little is done. This Bill will, for the first time, give the public a power to enforce against unlawful works, but that power is limited to those encroachments which were not in place on 28 June 2005. The vast majority of them precede that date,� Kate argues.

�A survey by a member of our society, of 136 commons in the East Midlands, revealed that 29 per cent of them, nearly one in three, had unlawful encroachments. In some cases the common had completely disappeared�a shameful situation. So we want the Commons Bill amended so as to:

1.	give local authorities a legal duty to take action against unlawful works on common land,
2.	enable a member of the public to take action against unlawful works which existed before 28 June 2005,
3.	allow a member of the public to serve a notice on the local authority to take action,
4.	introduce effective sanctions when someone is found guilty by the court of erecting a work without consent.

�These proposals follow the precedent of highway law. We believe common land deserves the same protection as public highways. If the Bill is not amended, it will be a lost opportunity for common land. Commons legislation was last introduced 40 years ago. It would be disastrous to have to wait another 40 years to save our commons from erosion and abuse. They are too valuable to lose,� Kate declares.

Examples of commons with unlawful works:

� Bucks: Poor�s Acre, Great Brickhill (fencing)
� Calderdale: Little Moor, Hebden Bridge (fencing)
� Cornwall: Quintrell Downs, Newquay (camp site)
� Cumbria: the Pinfold, Culgaith (parking, fly-tipping)
� Cumbria: Ousby Fell (access track)
� Derbyshire: land at Charlesworth (fencing, car dump)
� Dorset: God�s Blessing Green, Holt (fencing)
� Dorset: land at Lytchett Matravers (fencing)
� Hampshire: Weston Common near Basingstoke (fencing and electricity generator)
� Leicestershire: land at Thorpe Langton (fenced orchard)
� Leicestershire: the Pinfold, Blaby (pub car-park)
� Lincolnshire: land at Newton on Trent (car park, apiary)
� Monmouthshire: Whitelye Moor, Chepstow (fencing).
� North Lincolnshire: Wootton Dam, Barton upon Humber (fencing and tree planting)
� Nottinghamshire: land in Church Lane, Eakring, (garage forecourt)
� Nottinghamshire: Normanton Holme, (fencing)
� Nottinghamshire: land at South Leverton, (recycling bins)
� Nottinghamshire: the Pinfold, Thoroton (incorporated into house)
� Oxfordshire: Nuffield Common (fencing)
� Rutland: land at Manton (Christmas-tree plantation)
� Staffordshire: Wetley Moor Common, Werrington (fencing)
� Suffolk: land at Thurston (builder�s yard, fencing)
� Swansea: Clyne Common, Mumbles (car park)
� West Sussex: Bexleyhill Common, Midhurst (enclosure for garden)

To view the society's summary and briefing for the Commons Bill, second-reading debate click on this link.|

Link to full text of the Commons Bill

We celebrate rejection of Whinash wind-turbines
31 March 2006 top of page

We are celebrating the decision to refuse permission for 27 wind turbines on the Whinash ridge, common land near Tebay in Cumbria. The decision was issued on 2 March by energy minister Malcolm Wicks and rural affairs minister Jim Knight.

Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary: �We opposed the plans at a public inquiry last year. The wind turbines would have been highly visible for miles around, and would have devastated this important area of common land, where the public now has the right to walk. This wonderful ridge is vital for its natural beauty and recreational importance as well as for grazing by commoners� stock.

�Because the development affected common land, the applicants needed consent for works on common land, under section 194 of the Law of Property Act 1925, as well as planning permission. They had to show that the works were of �benefit to the neighbourhood�. They failed to do this, and section 194 consent was refused,� Kate explains.

�Furthermore this area, which lies between the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, has been identified by the Countryside Agency as being of national park quality; indeed, it should have been designated as a park back in the 1950s. The Countryside Agency is now considering the designation of the land between the two parks, and the rejection of the wind turbines will help hugely in that process.

�We are delighted that the inspector and the ministers have recognised that the value of this area for its landscape and recreation outweighed any benefits from renewable energy. This is a victory for this special area of common land, and our rights to enjoy it. The clean wind of this epoch-marking decision has blown apart a scheme that would have wrecked scores of square miles of our finest countryside.� Kate concludes.

Landmark greens-case to be heard by Law Lords
27 March 2006 top of page

We are delighted that the Friends of Trap Grounds� case for registering Trap Grounds, open space in North Oxford, as a town green will be heard by five Law Lords on Monday 27 March. Registration of the land as a green will rescue it from development.

Says Nicola Hodgson, our case officer: �This is a landmark case, not only for Trap Grounds itself, but also because it could reopen the doors for people throughout England and Wales who are campaigning to save their spaces by registering them as greens. This case is so important to us that we have made a substantial donation to the Friends and we have encouraged our members to contribute too.

�The Friends want to reverse a damaging judgment in the Court of Appeal which ruled (among other things) that, if a landowner stops people from going on land, this prevents them from registering the land as a green,� Nicola explains.

�As the law stands following the Court of Appeal case, landowners have the power to prevent land being registered as a green. To qualify as a green, the land must have been enjoyed by local people, without being stopped, for twenty years. Before the Trap Grounds case, if a landowner challenged the use after twenty years the land could still be registered. Now, if the notices go up before the land is registered, the application must fail,� Nicola continues. �This is an invitation to landowners to thwart the efforts of local people to register land. Once registered, the land is protected from development, so individuals and groups all over England and Wales want to register their open spaces in order to rescue them.

�At Trap Grounds, the landowner, Oxford City Council, has erected notices telling people the land is private,� says Nicola. �The government has responded to this element of the case by introducing an amendment to the law in its Commons Bill, which is currently awaiting second reading in the House of Commons. This is welcome, but the legislation will only apply to new applications, we need a House of Lords judgment which clarifies the law as it stands.

�There are numerous applications for greens, throughout England and Wales, which have not yet been determined, and whose outcome is dependent on the Lords� ruling on Trap Grounds. Our members are waiting with bated breath for the judgment (which will probably not be delivered until some weeks after the hearing).

�Just a few of the many examples of applications which will be affected by the judgment and have not yet been determined are:

� Land at Heath Hayes, Cannock, Staffordshire
� Station Meadow, Didcot, Oxfordshire
� Henley Green, Coventry
� Land at Bloxwich, Walsall
� Mengham Park, Hayling Island, Hampshire
� The chalk pit, Wargrave, Berkshire

�We are delighted that the Friends of Trap Grounds� case will be heard by the Law Lords next week, and we wish them every success,� concludes Nicola.

The Friends of Trap Grounds is led by Catherine Robinson. Details of the organisation and its campaign can be found at www.trap-grounds.org.uk (See previous news articles - 8 September 2005 2 March 2005 & 27 January 2004)

Lost chance to save commons from theft
19 January 2006 top of page

We are dismayed that the government is rejecting the chance to save common land from unlawful encroachments. In an amendment to its Commons Bill, which will be debated at third reading in the House of Lords on Wednesday 18 January, the government will confirm that the new law will not allow the public to take action against unlawful works on commons which preceded the publication of the bill on 28 June 2005.

Says our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook: �This is a smack in the face for people all over England and Wales who hoped to use the new law to remove an increasing number of unlawful structures from commons. To compensate for this, we are pressing for amendments to the Commons Bill, to allow local authorities to assume ownership of unclaimed common land. Our amendments will be moved by Lord Greaves.

�There are about 25,000 hectares (97 square miles) of ownerless commons throughout England and Wales. They are neglected and abused. Unless local authorities can take them under their wings, they will never be recovered,� Kate continues. �Yet the public has the right to walk on every common in England and Wales, under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 or earlier legislation. We cannot walk where there are barbed-wire fences, car-parks and other structures.

�Many of the ownerless commons have encroachments which stretch far back into the past. Now that the Bill does not allow the public to take action against them, the only way to free these commons would be for the local authorities to assume ownership and then remove the unauthorised structures,� Kate declares. �They would also be able to clear the impenetrable scrub which prevents people from enjoying their rights of access to many ownerless commons. That is the only hope for these commons, and we trust the government will accept our proposal as part of the legislation.

�We have numerous examples of commons with unlawful works. These commons are crying out for someone to assume ownership and to care for them, so that the public can once again enjoy the freedom to walk there. These include the following:

� Buckinghamshire, Great Brickhill, Poor�s Acre � fencing
� Calderdale (West Yorkshire), near Hebden Bridge, Little Moor � fencing.
� Calderdale (West Yorkshire), Oxenholme � encroachment and car park
� Cornwall, Newquay, Quintrell Downs � camp site
� Cumbria, Culgaith, The Pinfold � parking and fly-tipping
� Derbyshire, Charlesworth, land in front to the town well and county school and the park �fencing, car dump
� Hampshire, Basingstoke, Weston Common � concrete crusher and waste-recycling facility
� Leicestershire, Blaby, The Pinfold � car park
� North Lincolnshire, near Barton upon Humber, Wootton Dam � fencing and tree planting
� West Sussex, Midhurst, Bexleyhill Common � enclosure for garden.

�And there are many other commons which, although not ownerless, have unlawful works against which the public will continue to be powerless to act, because of the disastrous limits of the new law. These commons include:

� Cumbria, Ousby Fell � access track
� Dorset, Lychett Matravers � fencing
� Leicestershire, Thorpe Langton � fencing
� Lincolnshire, Newton on Trent � car-park, apiary
� Monmouthshire, Chepstow, Whitelye Moor � fencing
� Oxfordshire, Nuffield � fencing
� Rutland, Manton � Christmas tree plantation
� Staffordshire, Werrington, Wetley Moor � fencing
� Swansea, Mumbles, Clyne Common � fencing
� Suffolk, Thurston � builders� yard, fencing.

�We shall continue to argue that the public should have a power to take enforcement action against any encroachment on a common, not just against recent ones,� Kate declares.

We launch 20-year plan for saving public paths
3 January 2006 top of page

On 31 December we launched our 20-year plan for claiming public paths for the official map (the definitive map of public rights of way), and thereby saving them for the future. At midnight on 31 December there were only 20 years left before the official map was scheduled to be closed to path claims.

Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary: �Twenty years is not long when we must claim every path for inclusion on the map or it could be lost. The law⁽¹⁾says that on 1 January 2026 the official map will be closed to claims for footpaths and bridleways which existed before 1949 but have not been recorded. At present we can claim for inclusion on the map any routes which have been used by the public, without being stopped, without asking permission and without being secretive, for 20 years. That opportunity may well end in 20 years� time.

�We have published an information sheet on how to claim public paths and are distributing it widely, starting with the County Associations of Local Councils throughout England and Wales. We have called on them to pass this information to their members and urge them to start claiming paths and getting them recorded on the official map now. If paths are not claimed for the map, they can be built on or otherwise destroyed without the public being able to save them. But once they are on the map, developers have no excuse for ignoring them, and they are much safer,� Kate explains.

�We want local people to think about the routes they have used regularly but which are not officially recorded, and then to claim them for the map. Our information sheet tells them how to do it.�

�Examples of unrecorded paths under threat include:

� Reading Borough: footpath between Russet Glade and Jefferson Close, Emmer Green.
� Hertfordshire: path next to the Greyhounds Inn at Aldbury
� Hertfordshire: path through Wood Hall Farm, Shenley
� Birmingham: footpath at Moseley Hall hospital site, Moseley.

^(1). Sections 53 to 56 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 state that public rights of way over a footpath or bridleway which was created before 1949 and is not shown on the definitive map may be extinguished at midnight on 31 December 2025.

2005

Blitz on bracken: government to respond
6 December 2005 top of page

We are delighted that Lord Greaves has a starred question in the House of Lords today [5 December] on blitzing bracken. Lord Greaves will ask Her Majesty�s Government �what steps they are taking to stop the spread of bracken to mountains, moorland, heaths and commons�. This follows an unsuccessful attempt last month to amend the government�s Commons Bill to give the new commons associations a duty to deal with the increasing encroachment of bracken on open country.

Says our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook: �We are pleased that Lord Greaves is pursuing this matter. Bracken spreads mercilessly through many upland areas. With modern agricultural practices and fewer animals on the land the bracken is no longer being trampled and kept under control. It is a threat to animal and human welfare, providing a home for ticks which carry diseases such as Louping-ill and Lyme disease.

�It can ruin our enjoyment of the land during the summer months, because we can�t walk and ride through tall bracken. It reduces the biodiversity of the land, because few species thrive in bracken,� Kate continues. �However, we do recognise that it can be beneficial to fritillary butterflies, and therefore bracken clearance should be done in consultation with lepidopterists. Bracken also affects archaeology because it churns up the soil, disturbing and damaging the ancient remains underneath.

�We hope that the environment minister, Lord Bach, will respond to Lord Greaves�s question that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will put resources into dealing with the bracken menace,� Kate argues.

�We can point to good practice, on Dartmoor for instance. Commoners on Bowden Down near Brentor, and on Holne Moor, are crushing their bracken regularly. Defra should make funds available for the greater use of crushing machines, and encourage levels and types of stock which are compatible with controlling it.

�We shall call for a coalition of landowners, graziers, animal-welfare bodies, nature conservation organisations, lepidopterists, recreational users and archaeologists to promote a solution to the bracken problem,� Kate concludes.

National Trust told not to subsidise farmers
28 November 2005 top of page

We are supporting the National Trust over its controversial reorganisation of several Lake District farms which used to be owned by Beatrix Potter. Our chairman Rodney Legg, a critic of recent trust reforms, is taking its side over the case of High Yewdale Farm at Coniston.

�The trust has shown me archival correspondence which demonstrates that Beatrix Potter, as Mrs Heelis, was a formidably pragmatic lady who ruled her farms utterly dispassionately,� says Rodney Legg. Mr Legg has urged the trust�s board of trustees to resist attempts at turning it into what he calls �the National Farmers� Preservation Society�. In particular he opposes efforts by two of his colleagues on the trust�s council, landowner Henry Keswick and countryman Robin Page, to resist changes which have turned five hill-farms into four:

�I can�t see what the fuss is about. The farm buildings are still there. The fields are still there. The hedges are still there. The walls are still there. The sheep are still there. That�s all the visitors and trust members see. The rest is a redistribution of percentages in bank accounts between five struggling farm-businesses which are now a notch more viable as four struggling farm-businesses. All business is a struggle but that is no reason for saying that the trust as an environmental charity should start subsidising its farmers. Some want to see the trust doing just that. Instead of collecting rent we shall be paying farmers to live in the Lake District,� Rodney declares.

The advantage of change in the landscape, Rodney Legg argues, is that fewer farms will mean fewer sheep with the result that the damage caused to the flora of upland commons by over-grazing can at last be reduced and reversed.

He also welcomes the trust�s initiative in what it calls the �rewilding� of nearby Ennerdale where fields in the upper valley have been left to revert to their pre-agricultural state. �They show that nature makes a better job of looking after the scenery than man,� he observes.

Cinderella commons need tlc
28 November 2005 top of page

We have called for new laws to give local authorities power to assume ownership of unclaimed commons. We are promoting amendments to the government�s Commons Bill which is currently in the House of Lords.

Says our case officer, Nicola Hodgson: �There are thousands of hectares of ownerless commons throughout England and Wales⁽¹⁾, and as a result they are neglected Cinderellas. Their huge potential for public enjoyment, increased biodiversity and appreciation of our cultural heritage is being lost under a sea of bracken, brambles, vegetation and other encroachments, because no one has the power to manage the land in the public interest. If local authorities were able to assume ownership of this land they could care for it, or invite other bodies such as wildlife trusts to do so.

�The Commons Bill provides an opportunity to fix this, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs recommended this solution in its Common Land Policy Statement of 2002,� says Nicola. �But despite this, the Commons Bill merely re-enacts the current law which gives local authorities powers to take steps to protect the land from unlawful interference, but gives them no powers to manage the land positively in the public interest. This is a lost opportunity. There are many examples of ownerless commons which are suffering because the current law is inadequate, Nicola argues.

�Whiteshill Common in Bristol, Poor�s Acre at Great Brickhill in Buckinghamshire, Quintrell Downs at Newquay in Cornwall, Weston Common at Basingstoke in Hampshire, and the Pinfold at Blaby in Leicestershire are just some of the ownerless commons which need tender loving care.

�Lord Greaves has tabled amendments to the bill which would give local authorities a power to assume ownership of unclaimed commons. These will be debated on Monday 14 November,� Nicola concludes.

^(1).The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has calculated that there are about 2,000 unclaimed commons in England, amounting to 4,000 hectares, and 500 in Wales, amounting to over 21,000 hectares.

Tougher laws needed to protect common land
7 November 2005 top of page

We are promoting amendments to the government�s Commons Bill, calling for tougher laws to protect common land from unlawful encroachment. The bill is currently in Grand Committee in the House of Lords. The bill will, for the first time, give the public a power to enforce against illegal works on common land. We welcome this measure, but say it does not go far enough.

Argues our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook: �Although works on common land require the consent of the Secretary of State for Environment or the National Assembly for Wales, there is little that can be done about works which do not have that consent and are unlawful. There are countless examples of commons which are degraded by unlawful fencing, buildings, car-parks and other paraphernalia. Commons are important for their natural beauty, history, wildlife and opportunities for quiet enjoyment; they should be kept open and free from obstruction. From 31 October, the public gained the right to walk on every single common in England and Wales, but we can�t walk where there are unlawful encroachments.

�For instance, a survey by a member of our society of 62 commons in the East Midlands last year revealed that at least one-third of them had unlawful encroachments, some to the extent that the common had completely disappeared - a shameful state of affairs.

�While we are delighted that the bill will enable the public to take the offender to court, we do not think it should be left to the public alone to act. Local authorities should have a legal duty to ensure that commons are kept free of encroachments, just as they have a duty to keep public highways clear of obstruction,� Kate declares.

�Lord Greaves has tabled amendments to the bill which would give local authorities a legal duty to take action against unlawful works. These may be debated on Wednesday 9 November. The amendments would also ensure that, if someone was found guilty by the court of erecting a work on a common without consent and was ordered to remove it, there were effective sanctions. We are also proposing that a member of the public should be able to serve a notice on the local authority to take action. Our proposals have precedent in highway law and would, we believe, go a long way to protecting commons from abuse.

�We hope the government will accept the strength of our arguments and will agree to amend the bill to give real protection to our unique heritage of common land�, Kate concludes.

Examples of commons with unlawful works:

� Poor�s Acre at Great Brickhill in Bucks (fencing)
� Ousby Fell in Cumbria (access track)
� God�s Blessing Green at Holt in Dorset (fencing)
� Common land at Lytchett Matravers in Dorset (fencing)
� Weston Common near Basingstoke in Hampshire (fencing and electricity generator)
� Common at Thorpe Langton in Leicestershire (fenced orchard)
� The Pinfold at Blaby in Leicestershire (pub car-park)
� Common land at Newton on Trent in Lincolnshire (car park, apiary)
� Nuffield Common, Oxfordshire (fencing)
� Common at Manton in Rutland (Christmas tree plantation)
� Wetley Moor Common, Werrington, Staffordshire (fencing)
� Clyne Common at Mumbles near Swansea (car park)
� Common at Thurston in Suffolk (builder�s yard, fencing)
� Whitelye Moor at Chepstow in Monmouthshire (fencing

New law to fight bracken menace
9 November 2005 top of page

Bracken which has been crushed, with Brentor in
the background.

We are advocating a change in the law to require commoners to deal with the increasing encroachment of bracken on open country. The government�s Commons Bill, currently in the House of Lords, should be amended to require the proposed new commoners� associations to have a duty to manage bracken, and to remove a specified hectarage of bracken each year.

Says our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook: �Bracken is a huge problem, especially in the uplands. It spreads rapidly and its rhizomes churn up the soil. With changed agricultural practices and fewer animals on the land the bracken is no longer being trampled and kept under control. Bracken is a threat to animal and human welfare. It harbours ticks which carry diseases such as Louping-ill and Lyme disease. It can ruin people�s enjoyment of the land during the summer months, because you can�t walk through tall bracken or see where you are putting your feet. It reduces the biodiversity of the land, because few species thrive in areas covered in bracken,� Kate continues.

�It endangers archaeology because it can damage and disturb archaeological remains under the soil. Excavations in bracken-ridden areas have revealed that the disruption caused by the enormous mat of rhizomes under the soil is such that Bronze Age remains are found above medieval ones. The evidence of our history is being made changed from carefully-ordered strata to a m�lange.

John Brown, chairman of the Brentor Commons Association, crushing bracken on Bowden Down, Brentor.

�A lot of research, both here and internationally, is being done into bracken control, and no one really has the answer. But there are many examples of good practice,� explains Kate. �Take Dartmoor in Devon for example. On the western edge of the moor the Brentor Commons Association has purchased a bracken bruiser. They crush the bracken twice a year. It has already made a difference to the bracken growth. Meanwhile, commoners on Holne Common on south-east Dartmoor have obtained a bracken crusher and are attacking bracken on their common three times a year. It is not as good as animals� feet, but it�s much better than nothing. And with support from the Dartmoor National Park Authority�s Sustainable Development Fund, the Dartmoor Preservation Association is testing various methods of bracken control on the archaeological features on its land at High House Waste, and on other sites on Dartmoor.

We believe there should be a coalition of landowners, graziers, animal welfare bodies, nature conservation organisations, recreational users and archaeologists to promote a solution to the bracken problem. We hope the amendment to the Commons Bill, which will be proposed by Lord Greaves and debated in the House of Lords Grand Committee in early November, will fuel the debate.

We fight flaws in Crossrail Bill
7 October 2005 top of page

We have petitioned, jointly with the Ramblers� Association, against the government�s Crossrail Bill ⁽¹⁾ because it gives insufficient protection to paths and open spaces. The railway will run between, in the west, Maidenhead (in the former county of Berkshire), and Heathrow airport, and in the east, Shenfield in Essex, and Abbey Wood in Greenwich.

Says our parliamentary agent, Bernard Selwyn: �We have opposed particular threats to open spaces and paths, including the effects on the following:

    � Guards Club Park, Maidenhead
    � Salt Hill Park, Slough
    � Dog Kennel Bridge at Iver in Bucks
    � Haven Green in the London Borough of Ealing
    � Hyde Park, Hanover Square Gardens and Finsbury Circus Gardens in central London
    � Stepney Green Park, Stepping Stones City Farm and Mile End Park in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
    � Royal Arsenal Gardens in the London Borough of Greenwich
    � Westlands Playing Fields (green belt) and Jutsum�s Recreation Ground in the London Borough of Havering.

�We are also concerned that the works may overlap with the preparations for the 2012 Olympic Games. These will result in a temporary but major loss of football pitches at Hackney Marshes which serve East London. This will aggravate a similar temporary loss at Stepney Green and Mile End Parks. If it is passed, the Crossrail Act would enable the Secretary of State for Transport to acquire compulsorily any land needed to mitigate the effect on the environment of any works authorised under the Act, or to give land in exchange for common land or open space acquired for the works. But the Bill makes no proposals for using this power. We have argued that escape and ventilation shafts to tunnels should not be constructed in open space or, if this is unavoidable, that open space be given in exchange.

�We have called for our organisations, and other bodies representing users of rights of way, to be given more information on the intended temporary and permanent alterations of paths so that if the railway is authorised, the best arrangements can be made to reduce inconvenience to walkers and cyclists who may be affected,� Bernard continues. �We also want the approaches to all new or raised footbridges over affected railways to be made accessible to disabled people. The Bill should also ensure that trees are protected and that open spaces and public paths are reinstated as soon as possible.

�We shall argue our case before the Select Committee to be appointed by the House of Commons and hope that the Bill will be amended to meet our concerns,� Bernard concludes.

⁽¹⁾. The Crossrail Bill had its first reading in the House of Commons in February 2005, and was carried over after the election, being reintroduced in May 2005. It had its second reading in July 2005 but the Select Committee has not yet been appointed

Link to our petition (no. 91) against the Bill.

�Open your country� we urge National Trust
20 September 2005 top of page

Our chairman Rodney Legg is calling on the National Trust to copy the new Forestry Commission policy on public access and declare most of its one thousand square miles of holdings as open country⁽¹⁾. His predecessors in the Open Spaces Society, then known as the Commons Preservation Society, founded the trust 110 years ago.

Rodney argues that, while on the one hand the trust proclaims its properties to be �for everyone for ever�, it is reluctant to put principles into practice. Organisations and individuals can give rights of public access for air and exercise, under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 which is now being brought into effect. Thousands of acres of trust-owned land is already covered by the legislation, because of its natural vegetation or common land status, but a similar area of what Rodney calls �ordinary decent farmland� presents a �milestone opportunity for further action�.

Rodney, a National Trust insider as a member of its ruling council since 1990, is also campaigning for wider use of land the trust already owns: �The trust is being �litist rather than egalitarian and puts the priority into catering for those able to seek out high-profile honeypot properties. Just as important is the countryside closer to where most of us live. In failing to follow the Forestry Commission lead and dedicate land for access, the trust is losing the opportunity for having much of its land shown on Ordnance Survey maps. Whereas most National Trust land used to be shown on Ordnance Survey maps so we could find out where it was, the OS has now decided to simplify things and has removed the trust�s symbol from its walking maps. Instead it just shows all access land, regardless of who owns it, with a yellow wash� Rodney explains.

�Thus we have gone back a decade, to the time when I was outing what I called �secret properties�, that were never mapped and had only limited access on the ground. Too much emphasis goes on turning the National Trust into a farmers� preservation society and protecting the lifestyle of its tenants. It has a wider duty to its benefactors, wildlife conservation and the taxpayers who subsidise it through charity breaks,� Rodney argues.

�The way ahead for the trust is to make much more of its existing land but at the same time intervene to buy countryside and other attractions within easy reach of major conurbations. These are necessary if it is to be more culturally and socially inclusive. It must break out from its comfortable cocoon as leisure providers to the aged, white, middle class,� he concludes.

^1. Dedications are made under section 16 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 which enables any landowner to dedicate land for permanent public access. On 16 August 2005 the Forestry Commission dedicated its estate for permanent public open access, so that the public can enjoy the commission�s woods and forests in perpetuity. At the National Trust�s annual general meeting in November 2002, the Open Spaces Society�s general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, called on the trust to dedicate its land for access, but the trust declined to do so.

We back Trap Grounds in Lords
8 September 2005 top of page

We are delighted that the Friends of Trap Grounds have won leave to take their case to the House of Lords. The Friends want to register an open space, Trap Grounds in North Oxford, as a town green, which will rescue it from development. (See previous news articles - 2 March 2005 & 27 January 2004)

Says our case officer, Nicola Hodgson: �This case is highly important, not only for the Friends of Trap Grounds but for people everywhere campaigning to save their spaces by registering them as greens. The Friends want to reverse a judgment in the Court of Appeal (Link to Court of Appeal decision) which ruled, among other things, that, if a landowner stops people from going on land, this prevents them from registering the land as a green. Our society feels so strongly about this that we are donating ten thousand pounds�nearly one-tenth of our annual income�to the Friends to help them fight their case,� says Nicola.

�As the law stands following the Court of Appeal case, landowners have the power to prevent land being registered as a green. To qualify as a green, the land must have been enjoyed by local people, without being stopped, for twenty years. Before the Trap Grounds case, if a landowner challenged the use after twenty years the land could still be registered. Now, if the notices go up before the land is registered, the application must fail.

�This is an invitation to landowners to thwart the efforts of local people to register land. Once registered, the land is protected from development, so individuals and groups all over England and Wales want to register their open spaces in order to rescue them. At Trap Grounds, the landowner, Oxford City Council, has erected notices telling people the land is private.

�The government is responding to this element of the case with an amendment to the law in its forthcoming Commons Bill, but that is an uncertain process and we would rather have a House of Lords judgment clarifying the law as it stands,� explains Nicola. 'We are therefore delighted that the Friends of Trap Grounds will be able to argue their case before the Lords, and we wish them every success,� Nicola declares.

Our Annual General Meeting
29 July 2005 top of page

Our annual general meeting was held in London on Tuesday 5 July and was attended by 46 members. The meeting was chaired by our vice-president Roger de Freitas. There was a contest for the post of chairman, between the existing chairman, Rodney Legg, and the vice-chairman Ben Aston, which Rodney won by 31 votes to 14. Phil Wadey from Hertfordshire was elected vice-chairman and the executive committee was re-elected with the exception of Brian Morgan who stood down.

On being elected, Rodney Legg said: 'It was a novelty for the society to have a contested election for the chairmanship. This turned into an opportunity to debate management styles and strategy. It returned me with a democratic mandate but I'm not going to rest on my laurels. No one has a job for life these days and I shall go gracefully when a suitable successor emerges.'

In the afternoon, members of the commons bill team from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs introduced the newly-published commons bill, and answered questions.

AGM chairman Roger de Freitas listens to the general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, presenting the annual report.
Photo: Rodney Legg

New power for public to rescue common land
28 June 2005 top of page

We are celebrating the publication on 28 June of the government�s common-land bill (Commons Bill)⁽¹⁾. The bill will, for the first time, give the public a power to enforce against illegal works on common land⁽²⁾. We have campaigned for this law for decades.

Explains Nicola Hodgson, our case officer: �Works on common land require the consent of the Secretary of State for Environment or the National Assembly for Wales, but at present there is little that can be done about works which do not have that consent and are unlawful. We are delighted that the public will now be able to take the offender to court. However, we are disappointed that local authorities are not getting a new duty to enforce against unlawful works. This was recommended back in 1986 by the Common Land Forum⁽³⁾.

�Furthermore, we are sorry that the bill doesn�t give local authorities powers to manage commons in the interests of the wider community. Those with no known owner are particularly vulnerable to abuse, by encroachments and fly-tipping. At present there is no one to take the lead in promoting improved management,� Nicola continues. �The bill extends the requirement for consent for works to cover new mineral workings, which is excellent news because until now quarries were exempt.

�We are pleased that the old provisions for exchanging common land in the private interest are to be replaced by ones which give greater consideration to the public interest.⁽⁴⁾

�We support the provisions for the creation of statutory management associations for commons at the local level, so that commoners can regulate themselves through majority decision-making. However the interests of commoners with few rights must be protected.

�The bill will also reopen the registers of common land to a limited extent⁽⁵⁾. While we are pleased that some commons which were originally missed may now be registered, we are worried that others might be removed.

�We are considering submitting amendments to the Bill and briefing peers for the debates⁽⁶⁾,� Nicola concludes.

Click here to link to the Commons Bill and click here to link for the full text of the second reading debate.

1. There are 1.3 million acres of common land in England and Wales. It is (a) land subject to the rights of others (usually owners of nearby properties), to graze animals, collect wood and turf, etc, or (b) waste land of the manor with no rights. Under the Commons Registration Act 1965 all commons and the rights over them had to be registered with the county councils. Any commons not registered by August 1970 ceased to be common land in law. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 gives the public the right to walk on all those commons which were not already subject to a legal right of access.

The Commons Bill will, among many other things, enable the establishment of statutory commons associations with powers to manage agricultural activities on commons in a more sustainable manner, �modernise� registration of common land and common rights, and reinforce existing protections against abuse, encroachment and unauthorised development.

2. Under section 194 of the Law of Property Act 1925 it is unlawful to erect a building, fence or other work on a common which was, on 1 January 1926, subject to common rights, without the consent of the Secretary of State for Environment or the National Assembly for Wales. The new bill will apply section 194 to all commons.

3. The Common Land Forum was a gathering of all the interests in commons, with the aim of agreeing proposals for legislation. Its report was published in 1986.

4. Section 147 of the Inclosure Act 1845 permits common land to be exchanged for other land where it is beneficial to the owners and �just and reasonable�. The Commons Bill proposes that common land can only be exchanged for land which is no less in area and equally advantageous to the public.

5. The registers which will be reopened under the Commons Bill are those created by the Commons Registration Act 1965, which is to be repealed.

6. The bill had its first reading in the House of Lords on Monday 27 June and is published on Tuesday 28 June. Second reading will be in July.

National Trust�s �inner cabinet� plan
13 June 2005 top of page

Cold War bunker: Wembury Point and the Mewstone, Devon, are to pass from the Royal Navy to the National Trust.

Photo: Rodney Legg

Our chairman Rodney Legg has exposed the lack of democracy in the three-million member National Trust.

Rodney, who is also our appointee on the National Trust council, has written an article in the summer issue of our magazine, Open Space.

Rodney says: �The National Trust�s century-old exercise in representative democracy, with 26 elected members and a similar number of appointees from appropriate bodies such as the Open Spaces Society, ends as we hand over our powers to an inner cabinet of a dozen or so super-trustees. So while I am still a council member, I shall no longer be a full trustee. Oddly, though, the changes only apply in England and Wales, so I am still a trustee for the Northern Ireland properties.

�Britain and Europe�s largest environmental charity has transformed itself, in effect, into National Trust plc. The inner cabinet will take all the decisions, while council members have responsibility without power. To set up such a divisive form of governance for the National Trust strikes me as madness,� Rodney declares.

To read the article click here.

top of page

Adjust green belts to give public benefit
11 June 2005

�Public money should be used to buy land for the people and to make truly public green belts,� declared our chairman Rodney Legg.

Rodney was the guest of honour at the annual garden party of the Dorset Campaign to Protect Rural England at Bingham�s Melcombe House, near Milton Abbas in Dorset on 11 June.

�Green belts have been a vital protective mechanism, but they do not reach out to the people. They should connect town and country, rather than divide them. Now green belts are becoming speculative land where the public is excluded. Our vision is for a green belt where people are welcome, where they can wander freely and enjoy pleasant routes which link town and country.

�We must recover the future from the past,� Rodney continued. �When I argued in 1970 for the creation of Bournemouth�s green belt, I pointed out that present effective barriers to urban expansion were not the planners but the aristocrats with their web of great estates. That has changed. Lands between town and country are now in a speculative vacuum. They are the preserves of the rich. Much is being sold and bought in anticipation of a collapse of the system followed by ever-increasing population densities. These may well create a new generation of slums in the towns at the same time as concreting the countryside,� said Rodney. �We must prevent this by creating new benefits.

�If public money is to subsidise agricultural non-activity, these payments should be deployed through schemes for public benefit, giving enhanced access for people coupled with increased opportunities for flora and fauna. The only safeguard is by ensuring continuity for future generations. Ownership has to be secured in a series of purposeful scissors movements. The effort needs to be directed into creating riverside ribbons of open land and other long-distance wildlife corridors that lead from existing open spaces into towns and suburbia,� Rodney argued. �The next objective is to connect town and country, from bungalow and bar in suburbia to hostelry and honeypot in the wider landscape.

�The coastal path from Hengistbury Head might turn inland to St Catherine�s Hill and the New Forest. Stream-side paths from
Bournemouth Pier can lead to Badbury Rings, Hod Hill, Hambledon Hill and Duncliffe Wood. Their equivalent from Branksome Chine face the heathland way, via Upton Heath and Wareham Forest, to Lulworth Castle and the nearby cove. Inland, from Throop Mill, a ribbon of nature reserves via Parley Common and Holt Heath could lead to Knowlton Ring and Cranborne Chase.

�Land that is �saved� from development must be ours again�and this time its salvation must be for ever,� Rodney concluded.

Vision in the cities
2 June 2005 top of page

�Increasing urban population density must be matched by more open spaces for informal exercise, play and relaxation.� So declared Rodney Legg, our chairman, guest speaker at the Gatliff Trust�s⁽¹⁾ meeting at Bristol youth hostel on Saturday 14 May. Stressing the need for a new vision in the cities, Rodney continued: �The mobile middle classes have their day-off comfort zones away from home, in the shape of golf courses, National Trust properties and the rest of the leisure and heritage industry. Those trapped by circumstances in the cities and suburbs do not have similar choices. There is no freedom without opportunity.

�We need wild corners in sight of the streets where children, the sick, the disabled and the retired can co-exist in natural settings that are shared with wildlife. These should look unplanned on the ground but come together on the map as a network of green corridors that link town and country. Connecting paths and cycleways should lead towards open landscape and encourage us to explore,� argues Rodney.

�Times have changed. The need now is not for Victorian-style municipal parks but self-governing corners where young people can let off steam, in pockets of land that are treated like the commons of old. We must reinstate the rough edges and lose the manicured look.

�And we must resist the advance of nanny state.

�Commons and open spaces should remain both physically and visibly accessible. That means keeping them unfenced.

�Ponds and trees have to be tolerated. Of course they can be dangerous, if for instance you stand under a tree during a thunder storm or gale, but exposure to low-level risks is essential for learning to live. Many hundreds of miles of paths follow the edges of canals in this country and the remarkable thing about accidents with water is that they are so rare.

�We must take a dispassionate look at statistics relating to dangers and crime,� he continues.

�In the vast majority of incidents cars and traffic are involved. That also applies on open spaces where it is in car-parks that theft and drug deals tend to take place. People on foot using paths and open land are not the threat that people imagine. Far more of us have been helped or rescued by strangers than have ever been hurt by them.

�We need to be country-wise as well as street-wise. Both are there to be experienced and enjoyed. Air and exercise are an imperative that must be reintroduced to urban living,� Rodney concludes.

^1. The Gatliff Trust was founded by Herbert Gatliff in 1961 and exists to encourage young people in their experience and appreciation of the British countryside.

Judgment for Vixen Tor
11 May 2005 top of page

We are appalled that two judges in the High Court found that Mrs Mary Alford, the owner of the Dartmoor beauty-spot, Vixen Tor, had not transgressed regulations intended to protect valuable habitats when she carried out agricultural improvements there.

Mrs Alford successfully appealed to the High Court against her conviction in Plymouth magistrates� court in June 2004, where she was found guilty of carrying out projects without obtaining consent from the Secretary of State for Environment.

Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary: �The judgment is deeply worrying. Mrs Alford applied manure and calcified seaweed to land which everyone agrees is uncultivated and semi-natural. The regulations require consent to be obtained for activities which amount to �interventions in the natural surroundings and landscape, involving the use of uncultivated land or semi-natural areas for intensive agricultural purposes�. They were introduced in 2002 to protect valuable and sensitive wildlife habitats and natural areas from destruction by agricultural activity. But the judges decided that Mrs Alford�s activities were merely bringing the land back from a state of neglect to normal productivity, and therefore the activities did not require consent.

�Much land in this country has fallen into neglect and that is a bonus for wildlife and the landscape. Some of our best habitats are created through neglect. It would be disastrous if they were brought back into agriculture, leading to loss of biodiversity and environmental quality, without any check or environmental analysis, which is what the regulations require,� argues Kate. �We fear that these regulations have been emasculated by this judgment and we trust that Defra will consider an appeal. Failing that it must review and strengthen the regulations without delay to ensure that they do the job they are intended to do.

Meanwhile, the Dartmoor National Park Authority is hoping to negotiate an access agreement with the Alfords on this land, and we wish them all speed in achieving that. This area is much loved by local people and visitors, and it is vital that public access is restored there,� Kate concludes.

The case was heard in the High Court on 20 April before Lord Justice Brooke and Mr Justice David Steel. The judgment was published on 5 May. The judgment can be view at http://www.bailli.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2005/808.html

The regulations are the Environmental Impact Assessment (Uncultivated Land and Semi-natural Areas) (England) Regulations 2001, introduced on 1 February 2002.

Campaign to save urban lifelines
29 April 2005 top of page

We have launched a campaign to save urban paths, and have written to all our members calling for their help.

Says Don Lee, a member of our executive committee and our Manchester activist: �Public paths are lifelines for all of us who live or work in towns and cities. They provide us with traffic-free, safe and pleasant ways of getting about. Many of them are steeped in history. But urban paths are under unprecedented threat. As parliament closed for the election, the government rushed through the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act. This allows local authorities to erect locked gates on public paths, by gating orders.

�These orders are allegedly to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour�but we all know that enabling people to walk public paths is a defence against crime, because the public is the eyes and ears on the ground. The answer is to make these routes well-lit and welcoming to walkers, not to close them,� Don argues. We shall be consulted on regulations which will set out the detail of how gating orders will work, and we shall propose amendments to reduce their pernicious effect.

�The gating orders come on top of new laws which only took effect two years ago, allowing paths to be closed or moved to prevent crime and protect schools. Those provisions have not even been fully tested.

�Some urban areas do not yet have an official map of public paths�50 years after legislation required it. Plymouth City Council, for instance, has no map and its paths can thus be closed or developed with abandon,� continues Don. �We are pressing these authorities to prepare a map without delay. And now authorities are discovering that they can close and move hundreds of paths in one go, under provisions in the Town and Country Planning Act. Manchester City Council made a single order to close nearly 300 paths last year, and we were powerless to stop this.

�So we call on our members, and members of the public, to:

be alert to the threats to urban paths,
oppose applications to close or move them,
call on their local authorities to improve the state of their paths so that people are encouraged to use them,
lobby those authorities with no official map to carry out their legal duty to produce one,
ensure that public paths are treated as part of the public-highway network.

�There�s plenty of work for our small society, in fighting for these vital routes. We shall do so resolutely,� Don concludes.

NEW CAMPAIGN TO SAVE THREATENED WATERSIDE PLAY-SPACES
5 April 2005 top of page

We have published advice on how to save or rescue threatened access routes to, and public spaces beside, rivers and estuaries. The document, Waterside access for recreation - exploring problems and suggesting solutions,⁽¹⁾ was launched by Rodney Legg, our chairman. He began investigating the subject after it had been raised at meetings,⁽²⁾and in publications of several conservation groups during 2004.

Says Rodney: �Along the Hamble in Hampshire, the Crouch in Essex and the Thames, people were finding that traditional access-points to and from the water were being denied to them. A Nelsonian blind eye has been turned towards them by officialdom. Part of the problem is that public hards and slipways have no designation in their own right and are either being privatised � sometimes by yacht clubs � enclosed with adjoining property, or allowed to scrub-up through disuse. They were ferry approaches or working places where fishermen and ferrymen laid out equipment and nets and pulled their craft ashore for maintenance. Now of course they are vital for quiet recreation, as public play- spaces and access for individual boatowners�.

�Some slipways are now being re-named as launching points,� Rodney explains. �The older term, which was �hards�, seems to be going out of fashion. �Slipways� only half says what they are, because the hard-standing used to be of equal significance. �Launching points� however, has limitations as a description because, to be of any use for boating, they also have to double as landing points.�

Rodney continues: �No single course of action exists for ensuring their preservation. It�s not a case where one answer fits all. Some are rights of way, others can be protected as commons or registered as village greens, but many are in legal limbo. The inter-tidal zone is an administrative no-man�s land. In two cases we researched there was such desperation for a solution that the places had to be given their own Acts of Parliament.�

Rodney Legg emphasises that public slipways provide access to the water for walkers as well as for boating: �Often there are no other spots along the estuary or coast where you can reach the shore, to watch birds or shipping, admire the view or go for a swim. These are romantic places, having been in regular use for centuries, where local history and marine archaeology meet in the mud. They are Cinderella pieces of land that can provide immense interest and fun to residents and children. The danger is that they will be lost through neglect or deliberate enclosure or development.�

He concludes: �We are delighted that both Alun Michael, Minister for Rural Affairs and Environmental Quality, and the Welsh Assembly Government have called for investigations on how to achieve greater rights for public access to coastal land. But accessways to and from inland waterways also need greater protection. Our briefing on hards and landing stages will be
an important contribution to that debate.�

(1) Waterside access for recreation � exploring problems and suggesting solutions is available from the Open Spaces Society price �5. It is free to members of the society. See our full list of information sheets.

(2) A motion from the Bursledon Rights of Way and Amenities Preservation Group in Hampshire was passed at the Open Spaces Society�s annual general meeting in July 2004, calling on the society to issue guidelines to assist members wishing to protect hards and slipways as public open spaces.

WE FIGHT GOVERNMENT'S CRIMINAL-TRESPASS PLANS
10 March 2005 top of page

We have slammed government proposals to make trespass a criminal offence on designated sites. These could include the hugely-popular Hyde Park in London and much of the Dartmoor National Park. The provisions are contained in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill, which is due for second reading in the House of Lords on Monday (14 March).⁽¹⁾

Says our general secretary: �The proposals are dangerously loose and wide-ranging. The Home Secretary could, in England and Wales, designate any land belonging to the Crown, or to the Queen in her private capacity, and any other land �in the interests of national security�, where trespass will become a criminal offence. Currently, trespass is merely a civil offence with minimal penalties. The designated sites can be of unlimited area and for unlimited time.

�Crown land includes 105 square miles of the Dartmoor National Park, owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, Forestry Commission land, Windsor Great Park, Hyde Park and Regent�s Park�all places which attract millions of visitors each year. It is outrageous that innocent people walking there could become criminals.

�The Minister of State for the Home Office, Hazel Blears, has said that the intention was �to attack the particular mischief of people getting into Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle�⁽²⁾. If that is the intention, why are the provisions not limited to these royal residences?� Kate asks. �And a power to designate land in the interests of national security could mean, for instance, that if there was a threat to pollute our water supplies, every reservoir from Kielder in Northumberland to Stithians in Cornwall could be closed to the public.

�If this bill is passed in its present form, it could be abused by a future government to suppress innocent walkers. We are calling on peers to reject, or at least radically to amend, these pernicious proposals,� Kate declares.

^1. Clauses 125-128 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill make it a criminal offence to trespass on designated sites.
^2. This statement was made by Ms Hazel Blears MP, Minister of State for the Home Office, to Standing Committee D on 20 January 2005.

WE EXPOSE SHABBY STATE OF COMMONS
10 March 2005 top of page

We have exposed the shabby state of common land in our magazine Open Space. Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, writes: �The introduction of the right to roam on common land will at last mean that we shall know what is common and what isn�t. And the public is in for a shock.

�The society�s treasurer, Robert Greenly, investigated 62 commons across the East Midlands and found that more than one third had illegal encroachments on them, some to the extent that the common was non-existent. These included impenetrable scrub, an apiary, an anglers� car-park, farm storage, a Christmas tree plantation and gardens. This is the result of the lousy law on commons, whereby no one has a duty to take action against illegal works, and the public is powerless,� Kate explains.

�We want to record the state of all commons, in England and Wales, to make the case for strengthening the law. We want local authorities to have a duty, and the public a power, to prosecute in these circumstances. Otherwise the right to roam on commons will be meaningless, if there are no commons to roam on.

�Poor�s Acre Common at Great Brickhill in Bucks is surrounded by a high fence with a locked gate and covered in scrap metal and dumped cars. Yet this is all illegal and at the end of this year we shall have the right to walk here. This is just one of hundreds of examples across England and Wales,� Kate declares.

OUR GENERAL SECRETARY WINS NEW TERM ON COUNTRYSIDE BODY
7 March 2005 top of page

Our general secretary Kate Ashbrook has been appointed for an exceptional third term to the board of the Countryside Agency. This appointment will run until 31 March 2008, or until the agency ceases to exist if that is sooner. Kate�s reappointment required special approval from the Commissioner for Public Appointments, since the normal term is a total of six years which, for Kate, expires on 31 March 2005.

Says Kate: �I am pleased that the Commissioner for Public Appointments made an exception so that I can continue to serve on the Countryside Agency board. The approval was given because the agency is going through a transition, in preparation for the new integrated agency to be established by legislation shortly. The new integrated agency will be created from the part of the Countryside Agency which works on land, access and recreation, the bulk of the Rural Development Service, and English Nature.

�It is important that there is a strong voice on the boards of these bodies, for the promotion and protection of the landscape and access to it, as we prepare for the new agency. I hope I can provide such a voice,� says Kate.

The press release from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs can be found at http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2005/050303c.htm

A BLACK DAY FOR GREENS
2 March 2005 top of page

�A black day for greens� was how we responded to