Our challenge to Wales’s new environmental body
We have welcomed the new environmental body, Natural Resources Wales (NRW), which comes into existence today (1 April) and we have set it a number of challenges. The common land of Wales is immensely important for its natural beauty, wildlife habitats, archaeology, culture and opportunities for informal recreation. Eight per cent of Wales is common…
Read MoreGreen status won for Launceston open space
A threatened open space adjoining Woburn Road, on the south side of Launceston, Cornwall, has been registered as a village green, following a public inquiry last February. The application was made by Mr Philip Wagstaff on behalf of the Woburn Residents’ Association. We helped the association with its claim and are delighted with the result.…
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Runnymede’s plan to build on green belt next to common
We have objected to the policy in Runnymede Borough Council’s draft local plan core strategy which would remove land from the green belt and build 1500 houses there, next to Chobham Common in Surrey. We are concerned that the proposed development adjoins Chobham Common, an important lowland heath with a multitude of designations, which reflects…
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West Beach IS a village green!
The Court of Appeal has upheld the rights of local people to access Newhaven’s sandy West Beach in its judgement handed down today. The three judges who sat at the Royal Courts of Justice in London for three days at the end of March have upheld the appeal of East Sussex County Council and Newhaven…
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Poor’s Acre Common—a new pocket park
In January 2005, at about the time the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, giving a right to roam on registered common land and mapped open country was taking effect, we had a letter from a vigilant member, Dick Denton. Dick was concerned that there were three pieces of registered common land in Great…
Read MoreWe lend our voice to Cumbrian turbine fight
We have added our voice to the opposition to wind turbines near Killington Reservoir in Cumbria, and have sent an objection to South Lakeland District Council. The council is considering an application from Banks Renewables Ltd for three wind turbines and associated development, just north of Killington Reservoir (junction 37 on the M6). Junction 37…
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Race against time for Amber Valley residents’ green spaces
Residents of Amber Valley Borough in Derbyshire face a race against time to protect their threatened open spaces. The Growth and Infrastructure Bill, currently in the House of Lords, will outlaw applications to register land as a village green once it has been identified for development. If land has been used by local people for…
Read MoreGovernment’s spiteful move on village greens
In a spiteful move against local volunteers, the government proposes to deny the two-month grace period before it drops the guillotine on applications to register development-land as village greens. The Growth and Infrastructure Bill, currently in the House of Lords, will prevent local people from applying to register land as greens if it is earmarked…
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Fighting the merger of countryside agencies
The society was one of 23 signatories of a letter which was published in Friday’s Times (15 March 2013), opposing the threatened merger of the Environment Agency and Natural England. The letter is reproduced below. The horsemeat scandal highlights the need for well-resourced, independent, science-led agencies that can bring their specific expertise to bear in…
Read MoreWe blast motorsports development on common land
We objected strongly to a planning application for a major motor-racing development on registered common land. The so-called Circuit of Wales would be on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park, north of Ebbw Vale. The Heads of the Valleys Development Company wants to build a 3.5-mile long racetrack, 4×4 circuit, international kart track…
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