We call for government land-use plan to include public access
We have criticised the government’s proposed Land-Use Framework for failing to address public access. While the society welcomes the plan to produce a framework, and recognises the complexities of doing so, it notes that the government’s proposal is geared to protecting farmland and food security, and does not consider the role of land in accommodating,…
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Public right to walk on Clinton Devon Estate’s new commons
Today, 16 April 2025, the public gains the right to walk on newly-registered common land on the Clinton Devon Estates at Woodbury, east Devon. This is thanks to an agreement between the estate and the society. In November 2023 Clinton Devon Estates sought consent under section 16 of the Commons Act 2006 to deregister 1.7…
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Commons deserve the highest protection
We have called for modernising legislation enabling the compulsory purchase of common land, while retaining the existing, vital, safeguard of Parliamentary scrutiny in exceptional cases. Responding to the Law Commission’s consultation on compulsory purchase[1], the society endorses the protection for common land and open space subject to a compulsory purchase order. Existing legislation, in the…
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Call for Gloucestershire councils to promote new greens
We have written to county and district councillors, and town and parish councils throughout Gloucestershire promoting the voluntary registration of open spaces as town and village greens (TVG) to benefit the public. In his letter Chas Townley, the society’s local correspondent for Gloucestershire, says that ‘registration of open space as TVG means that it is…
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Inspector refuses Adwalton-Common development bid
We welcome the government’s refusal to deregister part of Adwalton Common at Drighlington, five miles south-west of Leeds. An application was made to the Planning Inspectorate in April 2024 to remove 178 square metres of land from the register of common land. This is adjacent to West Street. The application was made with the apparent…
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Public-path guillotine set for repeal in Wales
We are delighted that the Welsh Government will introduce provisions before the Senedd to repeal the 2026 cut-off date for public rights of way. Speaking in the Senedd on 3 March [1], Julie James, Counsel General and Minister for Delivery, said that the Government would bring forward amendments to the Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales)…
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Don’t trash Swansea’s Kilvey Hill
We have condemned Swansea planners’ recommendation to approve the Skyline’s development on Kilvey Hill. On Tuesday (4 March) the planning committee will decide the fate of this unique area. The development would comprise, among other structures, gondola stations and chairlift infrastructure for 22 cable cars, a restaurant and bar, a vast area of high-speed luge…
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Commons swap at Brow Moor refused
We have welcomed the decision of an inspector to refuse an exchange of common land in Brontë country at Brow Moor, Haworth, Bradford. Dennis Gillson and Son Ltd (Gillsons) applied to deregister 1.25 hectares of common land on Brow Moor, and replace it with 2.7 hectares about 2 kilometres further south. The application was made…
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All growth, no green?
Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, considers the implications of the government’s apparent obsession with growth. In the late 1940s, when the country was on its knees after the second world war, the Labour government nevertheless found room for vital legislation beyond the economic emergency: the National Health Service Act 1946, the Town and Country Planning…
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Tim Crowther, 1934-2024
Our former chairman has died aged 90. Tim was a trustee from 2004 to 2016, and chairman from 2011 to 2014. Tim lived in Weybridge, Surrey, for 60 years. He had a degree in estate management from Wye College and, among other jobs, he was estate manager at Bisham Abbey. He then became editor of…
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