25-Year Environment Plan Evasive About People’s Enjoyment Of The Outdoors

We have criticised the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for being vague about how it will measure its success in encouraging people to benefit from the natural environment. The society has responded to Defra’s consultation on measuring environmental change through its 25-year environment plan which was published in January 2018. In the…

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Getty Gives In And Withdraws Application To Fence Public Bridleway

Mr Tara Getty, grandson of oil tycoon John Paul Getty, has withdrawn his controversial planning application for deer fencing alongside and across a public bridleway, making the route appear private. The bridleway runs past Mr Getty’s Twigside Farm at Ibstone, in the heart of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Mr Getty wanted to…

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Chilterns Plan Should Promote Public Access And Open Spaces

We have called for a greater recognition of the importance of common land in the new objectives in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’s management plan. We were commenting on the Chilterns Conservation Board’s draft management plan for 2019-2024. There are nearly 200 commons in the Chilterns covering 2,000 hectares. Many of them are…

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Call For Speed Limits On Common Land

We have called for enforced speed-limits on unfenced roads across common land in national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty. We made this plea in our evidence to the government’s review of England’s national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs), led by Julian Glover. The society emphasises the need to slow traffic…

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Norfolk Path Recognised As A Route For Riders, Cyclists And Carriage Drivers

A route at Trunch in North Norfolk, which was recorded as a public footpath, has recently been confirmed as a restricted byway with rights for riders, cyclists and carriage drivers as well as walkers. Postle’s Lane, Trunch – south end with signpost Ian Witham, our local correspondent in Norfolk, discovered evidence to show that the 500-metre Postle’s Lane, in…

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Seventieth Anniversary Of ‘A People’s Charter’

This year we celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949.  Our general secretary Kate Ashbrook, explains what it achieved. This is not just a Bill.  It is a people’s charter—a people’s charter for the open air, for the hikers and the ramblers, for everyone who lives to…

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Walking Well In Carmarthenshire

We have recently learnt of a group in Carmarthenshire called Walking Well.   It is a Welsh Government initiative designed to help those who want to get fitter, or just to stay fit.  Carmarthenshire is extremely rural with a low population, and there are a large number of paths for the poorly-resource county council to deal with. …

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