David and Goliath battle for Harefield green
Next week is a further milestone in the campaign to save Harefield’s Medi Parc site as a green space for local people. On Tuesday (20 March) the public inquiry opens into the application by the Harefield Tenants’ and Residents’ Association to register the land as a village green. Harefield is a village on the western…
Read MoreWaltham Forest Council delays on its public-path duties
We have criticised Waltham Forest Council for failing to follow the correct legal procedures on public rights of way and for severe procrastination. The council has delayed adding a public highway to its official map of public paths (the definitive map), for more than five years. In 2007 local people submitted evidence that the footpath…
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West Yorkshire green space saved in appeal court
We are delighted that the Court of Appeal today overturned a High Court judgment, so that Clayton Fields at Birkby, Huddersfield, will now be registered as a village green. The 6.5 acres of sloping, partly-wooded, green space was first registered as a green in 1997, under the Commons Registration Act 1965. The registration was overturned…
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Court of Appeal judgment threatens village greens
We are disappointed that the Court of Appeal today upheld a decision of the High Court (23 November 2010) on Markham and Little Francis village green at Weymouth in Dorset. Read the judgment here. The judges determined that the land was wrongly registered as a green. It will be removed from the register, leaving it…
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Anne Wilks, 1918-2012
We are sad to report that our vice-president Anne Wilks has died aged 93. Anne lived for most of her life in Kent and was a tireless campaigner for commons, greens and public paths. She moved to Kent in 1924 and lived in Seasalter, Whitstable and finally Gravesend. Anne claimed countless paths for the official…
Read MoreDevelopment on West Sussex Common
We have objected to a planning application on Horsebridge Common, Ashurst, near Steyning in West Sussex. The application is to convert garages into a cookery-school and tea-room, but the building is on registered common land, which means it is unlawful. Works on common land need the consent of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food…
Read MoreLandowners plan public-path grab
We have condemned the Country Land and Business Association’s (CLA) plans for public paths as ‘an attack on our historic path heritage’. We were responding to the CLA’s report The Right Way Forward published today. Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary: ‘The CLA’s talk about “modernising” the access system is a lightly-veiled promotion of their…
Read MoreChippenham 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…
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