Latest News

Environment body’s u-turn on Circuit of Wales development

August 14, 2013

Natural Resources Wales (NRW), the Welsh Government’s environmental advisory body, has done a u-turn on the ‘Circuit of Wales’ motor-racing centre at Ebbw Vale. NRW is no longer asking the government to call in the application which was granted outline consent by Blaenau Gwent Council last month. The development is on common land and abuts…

Read More

Ugly cables across Dartmoor to go underground

August 8, 2013

Western Power Distribution has won consent to put four kilometres of ugly electricity cables underground. The cables stretch across Walkhampton Common, in the Dartmoor National Park, and have been an eyesore for decades. Because the land is common land, WPD needed the consent of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to…

Read More

Land saved for the community in Weston, Bath

August 8, 2013

The residents of Weston, Bath, and the Open Spaces Society are delighted that four hectares known as ‘The Field Behind Purlewent Drive’ in Weston have been registered as a village green. This means that local people have the right to enjoy the land for informal recreation and it is protected from development. Local people initiated…

Read More

Ministers are considering call-in for ‘Circuit of Wales’ development

August 1, 2013

The Welsh Government has issued a direction to prevent Blaenau Gwent Council from giving planning permission to the ‘Circuit of Wales’ motor-racing centre, while ministers decide whether to call the matter in. The council granted outline consent to the Heads of the Valleys Development Company last month. We were among the objectors who wrote to…

Read More

We slate Bristol’s lack of traffic management which threatens the downs

July 31, 2013

We have slated Bristol City Council’s lack of traffic management which is threatening the city’s green spaces. This follows last week’s Development Control Committee decision to allow Bristol Zoo to park on the Downs for a further three years. Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary, said: ‘Yet again Bristol’s councillors have failed to take action to…

Read More

Good outcome for Kingsmoor Common, Kilgetty

July 29, 2013

We are delighted that the Welsh Government has rejected an application from Pembrokeshire County Council to extinguish the common rights on 3.78 acres of Kingsmoor Common, Kilgetty.(1) The common is owned by the council. The council applied, under the Dyfed Act 1987, to remove the common rights from 1.89 acres to build a new retail…

Read More

We deplore government decision to exclude Isle of Wight from coastal access

July 26, 2013

We have deplored the government’s decision to exclude the Isle of Wight from the coastal-access programme.  Coastal access is being implemented stage-by-stage around England under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009, and last year the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs consulted on whether it should extend the coastal-access provisions to the Isle…

Read More

We call on Bristol councillors to end zoo parking on the Downs

July 22, 2013

We have called on Bristol’s councillors to refuse the zoo’s latest planning application to park on the Downs. This is to be considered by a planning committee on Wednesday, 24 July. ‘There is no justification for this. The zoo points out that it is a charity, but this does not mean it can ignore planning…

Read More

We announce winners of 2013 Open Space Award

July 17, 2013

We were delighted to announce the winners of our prestigious, national Open Space Award for 2013 at the society’s AGM in Birmingham on Tuesday (16 July). The winning entry was from the Grange Area Trust for its campaign to save Widmer Fields at Widmer End and Hazlemere in Bucks. The fields have been threatened many…

Read More

Our vice-president deplores lack of protection for green spaces

July 16, 2013

‘It is deplorable that, 16 months after the government published its plans for protecting England’s green spaces through a new Local Green Space Designation, very few such designations have been made.’ So declared Paul Clayden, our vice-president, at the society’s AGM in Birmingham on Tuesday (16 July). ‘In March 2012 the government published its National…

Read More