1. The society is urging people to get together to protect and conserve their local commons and village greens. 2. Commons and village greens are a precious part of our countryside. With their ancient rights, customs, wildlife and archaeology, commons and greens are a unique part of our rural life. For centuries they have provided a place for informal recreation, alongside the exercise of grazing and other rights. In the past, millions of acres have been swallowed up by enclosure and encroachment. Common land is still vulnerable to development and neglect. We cannot afford further loss. 3. Working together, people can ensure that their local common or green is properly cared for. You can form a friends group to research history, wildlife and archaeology; to help owners and commoners carry out practical conservation work and wardening; and to oppose development. Owners, commoners, local councils and friends can get together to discuss conservation management. 4. Across the country many groups have been caring for and protecting their commons. Management and conservation work 5. Nuffield Common Consultative Committee in Oxfordshire includes local residents, golf-club representatives, South Oxfordshire District Council (managers) and parish councillors. Set up in 1990, it provides a forum to discuss management of the common and to resolve any potential conflict. Also in Oxfordshire, the Friends of Nettlebed Commons group have been helping the conservators with fund-raising to conserve the 560-acre common. 6. In North Yorkshire, Storrs Common and Cold Cotes Waste Voluntary Management Groups are co-ordinating activities and organising better management of their commons. 7. Dowrog Common Committee in Pembrokeshire provides a forum for local councillors, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, commoners, the owner (National Trust), the Countryside Council for Wales and Dyfed Wildlife Trust to deal with complex conservation issues on this wetland site. 8. A leaflet explaining the history and management of the commons, and much practical conservation work has been produced by the Banstead Commons Conservators in Surrey. Also on a heathland common, Friends of Stoke Common, in Buckinghamshire have been fighting pine and birch invasion. 9. Fletching Parish Council in East Sussex is promoting community action on local commons for which it has produced a status report. In Hampshire, Silchester Parish Council in conjunction with English Nature are reintroducing grazing on Silchester Common using New Forest ponies. 10. In Flintshire, the Halkyn Common Graziers and Commoners' Association has published an informative booklet on the common. A Halkyn Common Management Committee has also been proposed to ensure proper management and protection of the common. 11. In Buckinghamshire, the Hawridge and Cholesbury Commons Preservation Society protects 105 acres of common land with the support of the Lord of the Manor. The commons have a deed of public access under section 193 of the Law of Property Act 1925. Campaigning work 12. Cambridge City's Save Our Commons And Meadows Group and Butts Green Preservation Society are campaigning to stop detrimental county council road and car-park schemes on common land areas within the city. Alton Western Bypass Action in Hampshire successfully campaigned against a road widening scheme on their common. 13. The Poldice Valley Trust in Cornwall, and Broughton Heritage in Wiltshire are both campaigning against unlawful fencing on their ancient commons. 14. The Yateley Society in Hampshire, and the Commons Again group of Greenham Common, Berkshire, are campaigning for the protection of common rights, and reinstatement of large parts of the common to public use. 15. In Norfolk, Etling Green Residents’ Association has prompted action by the local authorities against unlawful fencing, and to stop the removal of turf on the common. The association has been campaigning to prevent a service centre being sited on part of the common. 16. Prees Heath Common Campaign Group in Shropshire campaigns to protect this important area of lowland heath. It was owned by the Shropshire Wildlife Trust and part of it is a site of special scientific interest. The group is set up to stop ploughing and spraying of the common, and it has subsequently had to fight plans for gravel extraction, a golf course and an equestrian centre. The Open Spaces Society is unable to accept liability for any misinterpretation of the law or any other error or omission in the advice in this paper. © Open Spaces Society, 1996
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