Posts by Daniel Cregin
New golfing-plans on Walton Heath Common
We have objected to plans by Walton Heath Golf Club to use part of Walton Heath Common, in Surrey, as a ‘golf-practice facility’. The golf club has submitted a planning application to Reigate and Banstead Borough Council. The land is registered common land and the public has the right to walk and ride here. We…
Read MoreWind-factory threat to Bowland beauty-spot
Community Windpower is trying for a third time to build wind turbines on an exposed hillside in the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Lancashire. Part of the site, Claughton and Whit Moors between Caton and Hornby, is registered common land. The company is preparing to submit a third planning application to…
Read MoreCattle-grid blocks bridleway
On 14 March 2012, in a useful judgment for path defenders, two high court judges ruled that a cattle-grid cannot be authorised to block the whole width of a footpath or bridleway—Kind v Northumberland County Council [2012] EWHC 603 (Admin). Capheaton bridleway 11, 18 miles north-west of Newcastle upon Tyne, was recorded as a public…
Read MoreMilestone court-ruling: cattle-grids on public paths
We are delighted with the successful outcome to Alan Kind’s appeal to the High Court, to clarify whether or not a council can lawfully authorise a cattle-grid across the full width of a footpath or bridleway. This decision will provide additional protection for our public paths and better safety for the people using them. Capheaton…
Read MoreFour-mile fence on Brecon Beacons common land
We have objected to an application from the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority to retain a four-mile fence across open country in the heart of the national park. The fence was erected on common land as an emergency measure during the foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001 and it should have been removed by 2006. When the…
Read MoreWind turbines in Gloucestershire countryside
We have objected to two wind turbines in south Gloucestershire, near the village of Kingswood. The Resilience Centre has applied to Stroud District Council for permission to erect one turbine near Cherry Rock Farm and another near Mounteneys Farm. We have backed local members and objected to both turbines. There are public footpaths in the…
Read MoreKendal village green threatened by golfing development
We have renewed our call to South Lakeland District Council to reject the planning application from Kendal Golf Club for a covered driving-range on Kendal’s extensive village green in Cumbria. The green is on the side of Kendal Fell, which lies above the town to the north-west. For more than two centuries the land has…
Read MoreSouth Downs National Park anniversary celebrated
‘The South Downs National Park was achieved by a mixture of vision and persistence.’ So said Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, Britain’s oldest national conservation body, at a rally organised on 1 April by the Hampshire and Sussex Ramblers at Queen Elizabeth Country Park, Petersfield. The event was to mark the…
Read MoreJuniper disease affects public access in Upper Teesdale
We are sorry to learn of the outbreak of a deadly disease to junipers, caused by a pathogen which has recently been discovered in the junipers of Upper Teesdale. Some of the area is open access land, which has been temporarily closed. Our local correspondent for County Durham, Jo Bird, tell us that this is…
Read MoreDismay that Newhaven beach is not a green
We are dismayed by the High Court judgment that West Beach at Newhaven in East Sussex is not a village green. Mr Justice Ouseley ruled (21 March) that the land did not qualify as a green because its use by local people for informal recreation was incompatible with its statutory use as a port by…
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