Expanding our freedoms

The Open Spaces Society has long campaigned for responsible freedom to roam away from public paths in England and Wales.  The Countryside and Rights of Way (CROW) Act 2000 went some way towards achieving this, but the rights were only for walkers and were limited to registered commons, and mapped areas of mountain, moor, heath…

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Boost for Neighbourhood Planning Groups

Following the launch earlier this month of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s  Planning for the Future consultation, funding in the form of grants made to community groups involved with shaping their local planning policy  is set to almost double. Government grants to individual neighbourhood planning groups in both urban and deprived areas…

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Last chance for Forty Acres

Trudy Dean, chair of West Malling Parish Council, a member of the society, writes of the threat to a magnificent local open space. Forty Acres is a beautiful open area of gently rising farmland to the south of the A20 London Road in the Parish of East Malling and Larkfield in Kent. Confusingly running to…

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Taking people out of planning

With many other environmental charities, we have condemned the government’s proposals to speed up the planning process and reduce democratic involvement. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published a consultation, Planning for the Future, with closing date of 29 October 2020. This proposes a total rewrite of the rules first set out…

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New charter for Wales’s open spaces

Today we call for a better deal for open spaces in Wales.  We have published a charter and have written to Julie James, the Minister for Housing and Local Government, and all of Wales’s planning authorities. We want the government to introduce a national plan and standards for open spaces and to revise and update…

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We fight threat to Brent River Park, Ealing

We have objected to an application to erect a massive leisure centre with residential development and other proposals on the edge of Brent River Park in Ealing. The site is on the existing Gurnell Leisure Centre and the application has been submitted by Be:Here Ealing Ltd, which has connections with Ealing Council. We are concerned…

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New charter for open spaces

Today we call for a better deal for open spaces.  We have published a charter and have written to Robert Jenrick, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, and to all of England’s planning authorities. We call on government to introduce a national plan and standards for open spaces, and to place…

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