Chippenham Mead village green should be treasured not trashed
We have objected to an application from Monmouth Sports Association to erect a shelter on Chippenham Mead village green, Monmouth, in connection with the sporting activities there. The club has applied to the Welsh Government for consent for works on the village green. We are concerned that the shelter will intrude on the open space,…
Read MoreThreats to green spaces and public paths in farming ‘red tape’ cuts
We are concerned that the government’s response to the Farming Regulation Task Force report gives no assurance that it will protect our green spaces and public paths. Says Nicola Hodgson, our case officer: ‘The task force attacked the process for registering land as town or village greens, claiming that there was “a proliferation of inappropriate…
Read MoreWe call for reinstatement of Booker Common
We have objected to two applications to Wycombe District Council which affect registered common land at Willow Avenue, Booker, near High Wycombe in Bucks. The applications are for retrospective consent for a two-metre high fence and a certificate of lawfulness for use of land as a garden. The society has objected because the ‘garden’ is…
Read MoreFighting a path move on Northumberland coast
We have objected to the proposed diversion of Beadnell footpath 31, which leads from Harbour Road, Beadnell, on the Northumberland coast, to Haven Beach. The plan has been published by Northumberland County Council, the highway authority, and objections must be made by 15 March. The proposal is to move the path onto a route to…
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Thames-side green space saved
We congratulate all those involved in the Save King’s Stairs Gardens’ campaign on their successful application to register this land at Rotherhithe as a town or village green. The group submitted the application to the London Borough of Southwark, the greens registration authority, in August 2011, with supporting evidence of local people’s use of the…
Read MoreLinking the Lakes and Dales National Parks
We have joined a consortium with the Campaign for National Parks, Campaign to Protect Rural England, Friends of the Lake District and many others in support of plans to extend the boundaries of the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks. This will ensure that the magnificent countryside, much of it common land, between the…
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Southborough Common is a jewel
‘Southborough Common is a jewel’, says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary. Kate visited the Kent common on 8 February and then spoke at a public meeting organised by Kent High Weald Partnership which is consulting local interests on the future of the common. ‘Common land is immensely special,’ says Kate. No other land type has…
Read MoreKent County Council restores public access to ancient site
Congratulations to Kent County Council, the access authority, for going to court to restore forbidden land to the public. The council took Mr John Button, owner of the historic Capel Battery on the clifftop at Capel-le-Ferne, near Folkestone, to the magistrates’ court, after he blocked off public access to the site. The land had been…
Read MoreNew coastal access starts this summer
We are delighted that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced that the first stretch of the England Coastal Path will be open this summer. The first section of route starts at Rufus Castle in Portland and will end at Lulworth Cove, both in Dorset, and covers 32km of coastline along…
Read MoreDevelopment on scenic Surrey common
We are dismayed that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has granted Southern Gas Networks permission for a gas installation on Broad Street and Rydes Hill Commons, near Guildford in Surrey. Southern Gas applied to the environment secretary in 2008 to place a gas installation on the common, replacing an existing…
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