A framework for green space

In autumn 2010, the Department for Communities and Local Goverment (DCLG) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) agreed to ‘create a new designation to protect green areas of particular importance to local communities’.  However, by April 2011, the government has made no progress whatever in developing its ideas. The Open Spaces…

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End the scandal of secret paths in Wales

Fifty years on from the Countryside Act 1968, which required local authorities to signpost a public path where it leaves a road, many paths still lack signposts. We are calling for an end to this scandal. Join Open Spaces Society and add your voice to our ongoing battle. The society and the Ramblers were responsible…

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End the scandal of secret paths

Fifty years on from the Countryside Act 1968, which required local authorities to signpost a public path where it leaves a road, many paths still lack signposts. We are calling for an end to this scandal. Join Open Spaces Society and add your voice to our ongoing battle. The society and the Ramblers were responsible…

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Fight to stop major development at Harrow School

We have objected to Harrow School’s appeal against the refusal of planning permission for a new science building and sports hall. The society, which is concerned to protect public paths and open spaces, considers that the development would have a significant impact on Metropolitan Open Land and the attractive, historic landscape of the area, as…

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We fight common-land swap at the Canyons

We have objected to an application from Peakman Ltd to remove part of Mynydd Llanhilleth Common from the common-land register. This popular common is near Abertillery in south Wales. As part of its plan to extract aggregates from the nearby quarry, Peakman wants to widen the existing Blaen y Cwm road and create parking bays.…

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We call for greater protection of green spaces in cities

We have welcomed the Welsh Conservative Party’s consultation paper Liveable Cities and its support for parks and green spaces and sustainable transport in cities. In responding, the society has made some new proposals. While it welcomes the paper’s recommendation that local authorities should be required to submit plans that highlight land which can be made…

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Support for public access is in the Agriculture Bill

We have welcomed the support for public access to and enjoyment of the countryside in the new Agriculture Bill which was published on 12 September. With the Ramblers, British Horse Society and other outdoor organisations, we lobbied for agricultural payments to be directed to providing more and better access to the public. The Agriculture Bill…

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Unique opportunity

With 54 organisations representing countryside, recreation and wildlife interests we have signed a letter to the Prime Minister, calling for the forthcoming Agriculture Bill to enable farmers to provide benefits to the landscape, public access and animal welfare. We welcome the government’s commitment to develop new farming and land management policies that provide public funds…

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Threat to valued footpath at Tisbury, Wiltshire

We have objected to a planning application from the Wardour School governors to move a public footpath (Tisbury footpath 83) which runs across a field adjacent to the school. The school wants to fence in the path with steel post-and-wire mesh. The school has previously tried to move the path under the Highways Act 1980,…

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Our clash with the military over threat to Cumbrian commons

We are set to clash with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) at the forthcoming public inquiry into the government’s application to deregister three large upland commons in Cumbria: Burton & Warcop fells, Murton and Hilton. This would turn the commons into private land and the application threatens to be the largest inclosure of common land…

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