Better access to popular path on Purbeck coast
Harry Alexander, one of our local correspondents, has persuaded Dorset Council to install an accessible gate on a popular path between Worth Matravers and the South West Coast Path, between Chapman’s Pool and St Aldhelm’s Head. The new gate opens up the obstructed path, which was blocked by a difficult stile, and a padlocked gate…
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Café plans for Bristol Downs abandoned
We have welcomed the decision to abandon plans for a café on the downs in Bristol close to the Avon Gorge. The society criticised the Downs Committee[1] , which put forward the plans, for squandering public money on unlawful and undesirable projects. Meanwhile the committee is failing adequately to carry out its statutory responsibilities. The Downs…
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Peaslake village alleyway saved
A threat to deregister common land in Peaslake, Surrey, has been withdrawn after we led opposition to the proposal. Application had been made to the council by the proprietors of Ranger’s Cottage, Ewhurst Road, Peaslake (which is six miles south-east of Guildford in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) to remove from the…
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Government’s lost chance to achieve levelling up
We have lamented the government’s failure to equalise the provision of green spaces for all. Responding to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the society sets out its priorities for government in a five-point plan. The society wants to see: 1 an improvement in the process…
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Kilvey Hill, Swansea, must not be sacrificed for a vanity project
February 2024 update: The council has rebutted the Open Spaces Society following our objection to the disposal of space on Kilvey Hill. Read their statement and our responses here. We have objected strongly to a planning application from Swansea Skyline to convert Kilvey Hill, east of Swansea, into a massive tourism site. The society argues…
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Government promise on green space and water: how will it happen?
The government, in its Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) published on 31 January, has pledged that ‘the public will benefit from a new commitment to access green space or water within a 15-minute walk from their home, such as woodlands, wetlands, parks and rivers’. We welcome the words but are concerned about the lack of detail,…
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Environmental Improvement Plan 2023
The Government’s long-awaited Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) for England was published on 31 January. It claims to set out a five-year delivery plan to restore nature and improve the environmental quality of the air, waters, and land. It includes a new commitment that everyone should live within 15 minutes’ walk of a green or blue…
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Pavements are for pedestrians
We are working with Living Streets and the Ramblers to persuade the House of Lords to adopt our amendments to the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill (LURB) to keep pavements free for the public. During the pandemic, the Business and Planning Act 2020 was introduced temporarily to streamline the procedure for allowing eating, drinking, and…
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No backtrack on backpack camping on Dartmoor commons
We are delighted that the Dartmoor National Park Authority has agreed unanimously to seek leave to appeal against the High Court judgment of 13 January; this ruled that there is no right to wild (backpack) camping on the Dartmoor commons. Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary: ‘We have always understood that the Dartmoor Commons Act…
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Public money for what?
We are deeply dismayed by the Prospectus, published on 26 January by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which sets out the various actions for which farmers and land managers will be paid under the Environmental Land Management Scheme (ELMS). Defra claims that there is something there for everyone, but sadly, this…
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