Latest News

Message from India

March 21, 2011

In January 2011 the Open Spaces Society’s general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, attended the global conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) in Hyderabad.  She was the guest of IASC and of the co-host, the Indian Foundation for Ecological Security.  She gives a snapshot of her eight days in India here.

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BBC Radio Oxford interview

March 21, 2011

On Sunday 6 February our general secretary had an hour-long interview with Bill Heine on BBC Radio Oxford. She chatted about public paths, forestry privatisation, village greens, common land and campaigning. You can listen to it here: BBC Radio Oxford interview.

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We’re not out of the woods yet

March 21, 2011

‘While today we can celebrate the government’s abandonment of plans to flog off England’s public forest estate, we are not out of the woods yet. There is still a campaign to be fought.’ So said Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary at a well-attended rally in Friston Forest, in the South Downs National Park (between Eastbourne…

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Plan to privatise public path at Cox Green

March 21, 2011

We have objected to a plan by Windsor & Maidenhead Council to close a footpath between Culley Way and Farmers Close in Cox Green. The council is recommending to its Alley Gating Panel on Tuesday 22 March that the path should be gated because of crime and anti-social behaviour in the area. The Berkshire Ramblers…

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Forestry panel needs horse-riders and cyclists too

March 17, 2011

While welcoming the establishment of the independent panel on forestry policy in England (read more here), we have pointed out that its recreational representation is too limited. Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary: ‘While we are pleased that Tom Franklin of the Ramblers is included on the panel, we consider the omission of organisations representing…

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Plans withdrawn for 20 wind-turbines in beauty-spot

March 14, 2011

Community Windpower Ltd has withdrawn its appeal to the Planning Inspectorate to erect 20 wind-turbines on hilltop common land in Lancashire. The withdrawal coincides with the publication of proposals from Natural England that much of the Lune Valley is likely to become a National Park, thus confirming it as among our finest treasures. The 126-metre…

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Honiton green space saved for the community

March 11, 2011

Campaigners from Honiton in East Devon are delighted that Littletown Green has been registered as a village green.  The four-acre field has been enjoyed by local people for informal recreation for decades. With support from us, Rosemary Kimbell (a member of the society), her husband Alan and neighbours Mike Allen and Andy Cox gathered evidence…

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Whitstable beach saved from commercialisation

March 9, 2011

We have helped to save the lovely West Beach at Whitstable in Kent from commercialisation.  Canterbury City Council’s Development Control Committee last night (8 March) unanimously refused plans from the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company to erect a beach café near Coastguard Alley. The society, with the Whitstable Beach Campaign and over 120 others, had objected…

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Gloucestershire benefactor ensures public paths are well marked

March 3, 2011

The public paths around Cheltenham in Gloucestershire continue to be well marked, thanks to the far-sightedness of Cheltenham benefactor Herbert Lucas Bradbury. Mr Bradbury died in 1959 leaving £1,500 on trust for erecting and maintaining signposts on public paths within a six-mile radius of Cheltenham Post Office.   The fund, known as the Bradbury Bequest,…

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Campaign to save Henley green space

February 25, 2011

We are dismayed that the international land-agents, Chesterton Commercial (Oxon) Ltd, plan to swallow up most of a small green space at Northfield End, Henley. They have applied for planning permission for a new layout for ten parking spaces on the green. We have sent an objection to South Oxfordshire District Council. Says the society’s…

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