Archive for October 2015
Agden solar development
We have objected to a planning application for a solar farm at Agden in Cheshire, close to the Shropshire border. The application from Lightsource SPV 34 Ltd threatens 40 acres of open countryside close to a number of public rights of way. This industrial development will wreck people’s enjoyment of the public paths in the…
Read MoreThe Welsh consultation on access and recreation
We have responded to the Welsh Government’s consultation on ‘Improving opportunities to access the outdoors for responsible recreation’. We have welcomed the proposal for greater access rights but made it clear that this must not be at the expense of public paths. We have deplored the Welsh Government’s dismissal of the historic value of the…
Read More150th anniversary of midnight raid to free Berkhamsted Common
The National Trust is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the great battle to save Berkhamsted Common, Herts. The common was freed from enclosure on the night of 6 March 1866. The National Trust is staging an exhibition and commemorative walk on its Ashridge Estate. The exhibition opens on Saturday 10 October at the visitor centre…
Read MoreWe fight loss of Lyde Green common on Bristol’s fringe
We have objected to plans from NORFT Ltd to sacrifice Lyde Green Common near Pucklechurch, north-east of Bristol, and replace it with inferior land some distance away. NORFT has applied to the Planning Inspectorate to deregister and exchange Lyde Green. We have objected because the proposed replacement land is of inferior quality to the common…
Read MoreDerek Smith
A former activist in south Wales and a good friend of the society, Derek Smith, has died aged 88. Derek and his late wife Nina (our local correspondents for the Vale of Glamorgan from 1999 to 2002) were an indomitable pair of path and amenity defenders over many years. Together they saved a pretty footpath…
Read MoreWe challenge Windsor & Maidenhead Council’s ‘path-improvement’ plan
We have challenged Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council for treating the new roadside footpath by Ray Mead Road north of Bridge Gardens as a permanent solution to the gap in the Thames Path National Trail beside the river bank. We were responding to the borough’s consultation on the updated Public Rights of Way Management and…
Read MoreThe fight against Dalton sun factory
We have objected to a planning application for a solar farm on open countryside near Dalton- in-Furness, Cumbria. The applicant, New Energy For The World, wants to develop about 30 acres and the scheme will be highly visible from the many well-used public paths in the area. Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary: ‘This is…
Read MoreWe fight Disneyfication of Lake District commons
We have objected to applications to develop common land at White Moss near Grasmere in the Lake District National Park. The Lake District National Park Authority has refused two planning applications from Jim Lowther, brother of the eighth Earl of Lonsdale who is custodian of the family’s estate. The Lowther Estate wants to build a…
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