New representative for Stratford District

We have appointed Peter Bolton of Wellesbourne as our local correspondent for Stratford District. Peter, a retired history teacher and architectural historian, has lived in Warwickshire for nearly 40 years and has walked some 4,000 miles of local paths in every district of the county and every parish of the Stratford-on-Avon District. Peter will be…

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Plymouth Council drops Plymstock path-change plan

Plymouth City Council has decided not to proceed with a plan to alter the route of a public footpath across open farmland north of Hooe Lane, Plymstock. The landowner had applied to move the footpath from across the field to the field edge, around two sides of a triangle, on grounds which included avoiding conflict…

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Common land provides massive common good

‘In these austere times, we should invest in our unique resource of common land.’ So said our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, at an international symposium on the role of commons at Sheffield Hallam University on 16 September. ‘Commons are a remarkable survival from pre-medieval times, unenclosed and undisturbed through history. They also have immense public…

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Encroachments on Chiltern common

We have called on Chiltern District Council to take enforcement action against unlawful works on Layters Green Common, Chalfont St Peter, in the Buckinghamshire Chilterns. Willow Developments has planning permission to develop Willow Tree House, Layters Green, but the council has told the developer that it must first get consent from the Secretary of State…

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Finding Common Ground

We have published Finding Common Ground, the first-ever guide to how to recognise and take account of local-community interests in common land. The work was commissioned by Natural England, the government’s adviser on the natural environment. Read it here. Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary (who wrote the report with Nicola Hodgson, its case officer):…

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Pennine walkers hit out at path cuts

Our general secretary Kate Ashbrook has slated government plans to cut local-council spending on public rights of way. Kate, who is also patron of the Walkers Are Welcome Town Network and a trustee of the Ramblers, was launching the South Pennines Walk & Ride Festival in the Walkers Are Welcome town of Ilkley, West Yorkshire,…

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New activist for South Derbyshire

We have appointed Barry Thomas, of Melbourne, south of Derby, as our local correspondent for South Derbyshire. Barry will be our eyes and ears in this area, keeping a close watch on the state of the paths and reporting any problems to Derbyshire County Council, the highway authority. Barry is a retired Derby teacher, where…

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Excrescences on Chailey Common

Lewes District Council’s Planning Applications Committee has deferred determination of a retrospective application for brick piers on Chailey Common in East Sussex because it needs to investigate the matter further. The planning application has been submitted by the owners of White Cottage, Haywards Heath Road, North Chailey. They erected illuminated, brick piers with their house…

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