We become common rightholder in Norfolk

We have become the proud owner of a right of common on land known as St Clement’s Common at Rushall near Diss in Norfolk. The society’s right is of ‘estovers’, ie to collect furze and bracken. The right was originally granted by the late landowner, Daphne Buxton, to a local member of the society, Maurice…

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Help save Battersea Park from damaging motor-race

The Battersea Park Action Group is striving to save Battersea Park from three weeks of closure this summer for the Formula E car-racing series, with its associated noise and damage to this peaceful, Victorian, grade II*-listed park. The campaigners are seeking pledges for funding to support their legal challenge against Wandsworth Council which has granted…

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‘Don’t mess about with MENE’ we warn Defra

We have attacked plans by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to cut its long-standing research on people and the natural environment.  Defra is consulting on changes to the official statistics produced by its associated body, Natural England (NE). Since 2009 NE has undertaken its Monitor of Engagement with the Natural Environment…

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Park sharks

Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, considers how commercial exploitation is threatening our parks and green spaces. As I walked through Battersea Park in the February sunshine I found it hard to imagine what it would be like here in July.  Then the quiet roads around the park will be converted into a motor-race track for the international…

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Bucks councils recognise value of Local Green Space

We are pleased that Chiltern and South Bucks District Councils have recognised the importance of Local Green Space in their new joint local plan. The councils have advocated that where land is proposed for removal from the green belt, the joint local plan will consider whether additional planning controls are appropriate, such as protection as…

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150th anniversary of Berkhamsted Common battle

On Sunday (6 March) with the National Trust we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the night raid to free Berkhamsted Common.  On 6 March 1866, the year after its foundation, the Open Spaces Society organised a trainload of brawny navvies to pull down Lord Brownlow’s illegal iron fences and reopen the common to the people.…

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Commons – global and local

The Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) of the University of Gloucestershire has published its new book, Commons—Governance of Shared Assets, coinciding nicely with World Book Day. It can be downloaded as a pdf  or as epub from the university’s website. The book is a collection of recent blog posts on the CCRI website, centred on…

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