Archive for August 2024
Byway-blockage epidemic in Wiltshire
The society has been pressing Wiltshire Council to secure the removal of obstructions on byways in Wiltshire. The council has finally acted—but only in one case, ordering a farmer to remove a set of illegal gates across a byway in the Wylye Valley. That followed a statutory notice from us requiring the council to have…
Read MoreTwo Cornish lost commons restored
We welcome two decisions by the Planning Inspectorate to grant applications to register common land in Cornwall. These are about three hectares at Burngullow Common (6.4 kilometres north-west of St Austell), and about five hectares at West Looe Downs at West Looe. The application for Burngullow Common was made by Tomas Hill on behalf of…
Read MoreWe fight Clyne Common swap at public inquiry
We object to the proposed, unfair land swap on Clyne Common, Swansea, and will give evidence to a public inquiry which opens on Tuesday (6 August)[1]. The society joins the Gower Society and many other objectors in arguing that the Duke of Beaufort’s Somerset Trust land to be taken for housing is far superior to…
Read MoreGerry Stewart, 1933 – 2024
We are sad that our local correspondent for Cotswold District in Gloucestershire who served for 26 years, has died aged 90. Gerald Frederick Stewart, known as Gerry, was born in Winchcombe on 5 September 1933. He moved, as a young child, to Frampton Cottages, near the village of Alderton, six miles east of Tewkesbury. He…
Read MoreOpen Spaces Society to intervene in supreme court in Dartmoor backpack-camping case
We are delighted to have been granted permission to intervene in the Dartmoor backpack-camping case. The society intervened in support of the Dartmoor National Park Authority in the Court of Appeal and was relieved when the court ruled that the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 gave the public the right to camp on nearly all the Dartmoor…
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