Government’s missed opportunity to protect local open spaces

We are dismayed that the government proposes, in wholesale changes to the planning system, to undermine the protection afforded to green spaces. The society has raised these concerns in its response to the consultation from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government on amendments to the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).  The NPPF, among…

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Open Spaces Society delighted that Brent River Park, Ealing, is saved

Brent River Park summer 2020

We are delighted that Ealing Council’s planning committee on 17 March resolved to save Brent River Park.  It rejected Be:Here Ealing Ltd’s application to erect a massive leisure centre, six high-rise housing blocks and other development on the Gurnell Leisure Centre site next to the park. Although the council’s planning officer recommended conditional approval, the…

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We fight fencing plan on Ugthorpe Common

The society has objected to an application from the Mulgrave Estate for nearly a mile of new fencing on Ugthorpe Common near Whitby in the North York Moors National Park.  This is in addition to a retrospective application to replace more than two miles of fencing on the common. The estate applied to the Secretary…

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Barratt’s backs down over future of Leigh Common, Dorset

We have prevailed in a High Court action to halt further development of Leigh Common. Leigh Common is a 9-hectare woodland and grassland nature reserve in Colehill, near Wimborne—the first in Dorset to be registered in 1967 and given permanent protection. In 2016 developers Gleeson Developments Ltd applied to Dorset County Council to deregister Leigh…

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We save path at Honing and East Ruston in Norfolk

A footpath in the parishes of Honing and East Ruston in north Norfolk has been reopened, thanks to the persistence of our local correspondent Ian Witham. In 2012 Ian reported to the highway authority, Norfolk County Council, that part of footpath 15 in Honing and 27 in East Ruston was under water from the construction…

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Top priority needed for environmental principles

‘New environmental principles should apply to all public bodies as well as central government. Natural England should be given greater resources, clout and independence to enable it to fulfil new obligations to protect the environment.’ So we have said in responding to the consultation from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on…

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We fight degradation of Naphill Common, Bucks

We have objected to a planning application adjacent to Naphill Common in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The proposal is to erect three houses in place of one at Heatherlands on Downley Road. Naphill is about three miles north-west of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. This application replaces a similar one which was submitted…

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Buxton footpath in Norfolk open at last

We are pleased that Norfolk County Council has belatedly replaced unlawful stiles with gates on Buxton with Lamas footpath 4, three miles south east of Aylsham. The stiles were in appalling condition and difficult to negotiate, and they had not been authorised on this public path (under section 147 of the Highways Act 1980)(1). The…

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Welsh access on hold

Last year we responded to a consultation from the Welsh Government, Taking forward Wales’s sustainable management of natural resources. Chapter 4 was about access to the outdoors. We welcomed its proposal for extended access to coast and cliff, riverbanks and lakesides, an all-Wales digital map of access, and the repeal of the 2026 closure of…

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