Latest News

Unique Staines Moor is saved

April 15, 2011

Heathrow Airtrack has abandoned its plans for a new rail-link which would have taken a chunk of Staines Moor common in Surrey. Last year we strongly opposed the application for a land swap to enable the common to be used. We argued that the land being offered in exchange was grossly inferior to the land…

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Kington Footpath Scheme celebrates twentieth birthday

April 14, 2011

The Kington Footpath Scheme, which has led to the reopening and refurbishment of countless public paths in 16 parishes in north west Herefordshire, this year celebrates its twentieth anniversary. Peter Newman, a trustee of the society and our local correspondent for north-west Herefordshire, invented the scheme and has led it for the past 20 years. …

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Valuable highway under threat of alley-gating

April 12, 2011

The Open Spaces Society has objected to a draft alley-gating order, made by Windsor & Maidenhead Council, which would close a valuable footpath between Culley Way and Farmers Close in Cox Green.  The council’s Alley Gating Panel considered that the path should be gated because of alleged crime and anti-social behaviour in the area, despite…

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Horse-development rejected in Chatham countryside

April 11, 2011

We have helped to prevent a damaging development, at Capstone Road, Chatham in Medway, from going ahead.  The application was for the excavation of land for the creation of a riding ménage and construction of a stable block next to Drowlhill Woods. Our Medway local correspondent, the indefatigable 94-year-old Pat Wilson, opposed the plan when…

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Our new activist for Rhondda Cynon Taff

April 8, 2011

Jay Kynch of Efail Isaf, near Pontypridd in south Wales, is our new local correspondent for the southern part of Rhondda Cynon Taff. Jay is a retired development economist who has worked as a researcher at Oxford University and a lecturer at Swansea University; she has researched poverty in Indian villages and social exclusion and…

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Our action plan for the new Welsh Assembly Government

April 7, 2011

We have published our 12-point action plan for candidates in the Welsh Assembly Government election, urging them to commit themselves to our action points. We are contacting all the candidates through our members in Wales, and from our headquarters, to seek their pledges of support. Our 12 points include a better deal for the nation’s…

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First victory in battle to restore St Catherine’s Hill common

April 1, 2011

We have won the first round in the battle to restore parts of St Catherine’s Hill Common lost to illegal privatisation. We welcomed the decision by the Planning Inspectorate to reject an application from Guildford Borough Council, the owner of St Catherine’s Hill Common south of Guildford in Surrey, to plant a hollybush screen, three…

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Dorset’s Blackdown Woods saved for the nation

March 28, 2011

We joined the celebrations on Saturday 26 March at Portesham village hall, near Dorchester in Dorset, for the handover of Blackdown Woods from the Forestry Commission to Dorset County Council. The 117 hectares of woodland surround the Hardy monument (‘Kiss me Hardy’ of Trafalgar fame) on the Dorset Ridgeway in the Dorset Area of Outstanding…

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Herefordshire hilltop under threat

March 25, 2011

We have objected to plans by Bolsterstone Innovative Energy Ltd to deface the unspoilt Stonewall Hill (also known as Reeves Hill) in Herefordshire with four wind-turbines and associated development. The hill is between the towns of Knighton and Presteigne, and is close to the Powys border, so we have written to both Herefordshire and Powys…

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Our new chairman

March 24, 2011

Tim Crowther from Weybridge in Surrey is our new chairman. For the past 12 years Tim has been an active member of Elmbridge Borough Council. Prior to retirement he worked for a government property agency. He became a member of the Open Spaces Society over 25 years ago. A lifelong walker, Tim has completed many…

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