Archive for November 2013
Brendon Commons to have the first commons council
The Brendon Commons, in the Devon part of the Exmoor National Park, are to have the first-ever commons council under the Commons Act 2006. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has decreed that the Brendon Commons Council will come into being on 1 April 2014. The Secretary of State for Environment,…
Read MoreChilterns Commons Project competition to celebrate beauty of our commons
The stunning landscape of the Chilterns has inspired artists over the years and, to celebrate the natural beauty of our commons, the Chilterns Commons Project is running a free art competition. Artwork in any medium is welcomed from amateur artists young and old inspired by a common in the Chilterns. Prizes will be awarded to…
Read MoreWe fight devastation of Swansea commons
We have sent a strong objection to plans to build 16 wind turbines with associated infrastructure on Mynydd y Gwair and adjoining commons, eight miles north of Swansea. RWE npower renewables has planning permission for the development but, because it is to be sited on registered common land, the developer needs the additional consent of…
Read MoreAncient Warwickshire landscape saved
We are delighted that Galley Common, Nuneaton in Warwickshire has been saved from housing development. We were among the objectors to a planning application from A R Cartwright Ltd for 130 houses with associated infrastructure on land north of Tunnel Road. Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council refused the application in December 2012, the applicant appealed…
Read MoreGovernment’s miserable lack of progress on green-space promise
Wildlife and Countryside Link’s Nature Check report, signed by 41 organisations, shows a miserable lack of progress on implementing the promised Local Green Space (LGS) designation. Nature Check analyses the government’s 25 commitments on the natural environment against a traffic-light system. It reveals that nine are red, 12 are amber and only four are green.…
Read MoreKate is runner-up
We are pleased to report that our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, was runner-up to Ray Mears in the Great Outdoors magazine’s Personality of the Year Award, and that the Ramblers’ coastal-access campaign was voted as Environmental or Access Initiative of the Year. Thank you to all who voted for us.
Read MorePresentation to winners of OS Award 2013
Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, was delighted to visit Widmer Fields in Buckinghamshire recently to present our Open Space Award 2013 to Grange Area Trust for their campaigning work to save the fields which have been threatened many times with development. The Trust, which was established with the aim of conserving the 16-hectare fields as…
Read MoreCharlton Common saved: developers withdraw road-proposal
Redrow Homes has withdrawn its proposal to build a 6.4-metre-wide road with a three-metre-wide pedestrian and cycle lane across Charlton Common in South Gloucestershire. The application was in connection with adjoining development. The public inquiry, due to start on 26 November, has been cancelled. The inquiry opened in April and was immediately adjourned. The room…
Read MoreRobert Hunter where are you?
‘Sir Robert Hunter would have been horrified by the government’s assault on our green spaces.’ So said Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary, on the centenary of Robert Hunter’s death on 6 November. Robert Hunter was solicitor to the Commons Preservation Society, as the Open Spaces Society was first known, some years before he went on…
Read MoreKate Ashbrook shortlisted as Outdoor Personality of the Year
We are delighted that our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, has been shortlisted as Outdoor Personality of the Year in The Great Outdoors (TGO) Awards which are run annually by TGO magazine and voted for by members of the public. Kate became general secretary of the society in 1984. A former member of the Countryside Agency…
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