Fight to save country park from devastation
We have joined local campaigners including the Friends of Ringwood Forest in their battle to stop precious recreation land on the Hampshire/Dorset border from being carved up for mineral extraction and then becoming a waste dump. The site, known as Purple Haze, is west of the B3081, in the Moors Valley Country Park between Verwood…
Read MoreBraintree Green Common is not a private garden
We have called for the removal of an unlawful picket-fence around part of Braintree Green Common at Rayne, one mile west of Braintree in Essex. This follows the refusal by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of retrospective consent for the works on common land, under section 38 of the Commons…
Read More
The Open Spaces Society’s views on Defra’s consultation on the registration of new village greens, September 2011
We are deeply concerned about this consultation. We have asked our members for their views and are preparing a detailed response before the closing date of 17 October. In particular, our concerns are as follows. 1. A package The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) appears to be presenting a package of proposals,…
Read More
Access bodies launch Lancashire project to rescue lost commons
The Open Spaces Society and the British Horse Society have launched a joint project to rescue thousands of acres of lost common land and record them for public use. We are funding Steve Byrne to research land in the Lancashire area that was omitted from the commons registers in the late 1960s and early 1970s…
Read More
Unlawful fence across Brecon Beacons commons must go
The Welsh Government has refused retrospective consent for a four-and-a-half-mile-long fence across common land in the Brecon Beacons National Park. The fence runs from near Pontsticill Reservoir in the south, crossing the hillside via Upper Neuadd Reservoir, passing just to the east of the famous summits of Pen y Fan and Cribyn and then cutting…
Read MorePlans withdrawn for 13 wind-turbines in tranquil Lune Valley
FELLS (Friends of Eden, Lakeland and Lunesdale Scenery), who have fought hard for over a decade to preserve the unspoiled tranquillity of the Lune Valley from its source in the Howgill Fells to the sea at Lancaster, are delighted that Community Windpower Ltd has withdrawn its appeal for the 13-turbine wind-farm development on Claughton and…
Read More
Long-service award for Peter Newman
The society’s trustees have made an award to Peter Newman for achieving 25 years on our board. They presented Peter with a blotter at their meeting this week, to thank him both for his long service to the committee and as a campaigner for public paths in the Welsh Marches. Peter lives and works in…
Read More
Welsh government rejects damaging fencing on Cwmllynfell common land
The Welsh Government has rejected an application from Neath Port Talbot Council for fencing on common land adjacent to Bryn Road, Cwmllynfell, ten miles north of Neath. The council wanted to erect 1,223 metres of stock-proof fencing, with gates and cattle-grids, along the edge of Penlle’rfedwen and Mynydd Uchaf Common to prevent livestock straying into…
Read MoreEssex footpath saved from glasshouse development
Epping Forest District Council has refused consent for a massive glasshouse development across a public footpath, Nazeing footpath 10, in Essex. We were among the objectors to the planning application, from Valley Grown Nurseries, Paynes Lane, Nazeing, to erect 87,119 square metres of glasshouses plus an ancillary warehouse. The development would have required Nazeing footpath…
Read MoreThreat to South Wales beach path
Neath Port Talbot Council proposes to close the public footpath known as Longlands Lane (footpath 92) which leads to Morfa Beach, Margam, and to move the path (footpath 93) from its route along the edge of the dunes onto a disused railway. The extinguishment and diversion orders are made under the Highways Act 1980 and…
Read More