Localism Bill is a muddle for open spaces
We today roundly condemn the Localism Bill, the government’s flagship measure for giving people power to run their own lives and neighbourhoods. The bill is due for second reading in the House of Commons on Monday 17 January. Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, says: ‘One of the bill’s most important aspects-the care and future of…
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Crash landing for microlight plans
We are delighted that Aylesbury Vale District Council has refused planning permission to Mr Mark Fowler to fly microlight aircraft from Bernwood Farm, Botolph Claydon in mid Bucks. The application was retrospective: Mr Fowler, the tenant of Bernwood Farm, was already flying aircraft there without consent. We backed our member the Botolph Claydon Quiet Society…
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Common land is key to the Welsh environment
We have responded to the Welsh Assembly Government’s consultation on A Living Wales—a new framework for our environment, our countryside and seas, by calling on it to recognise the importance of common land to the nation. Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary: ‘Common land covers over eight per cent of the land area of Wales.…
Read MoreWarwickshire’s threat to scrap paths team
We have responded angrily to Warwickshire County Council’s Head of Transport and Highways, Graeme Fitton, who has threatened to scrap the council’s Countryside Access Team. Mr Fitton has told us that the council needs to save £60 million by 2014 and that it is taking ‘a closer look’ at the countryside access service ‘with a…
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Yeadon Banks Green still undecided following appeal court ruling
The application to register five acres of treasured open space known as Yeadon Banks, on the outskirts of Leeds, as a town green is still not decided following a Court of Appeal judgment on Monday (20 December). Read the judgment here Mr Doug Jones, of Keep Yeadon Banks Green (KEYBAG) applied in 2004 to register…
Read MoreOur response to Peak Park’s decision on Losehill Hall
We have responded to the Peak District National Park’s decision to select the Youth Hostels Association as the preferred bidder for Losehill Hall in the Hope Valley in the heart of the national park. Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary (who addressed the park authority members at their meeting on Friday 17 December): ‘We are…
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Final countdown to decision on top national-park learning centre
We plan to speak at the Peak District National Park Authority’s meeting on Friday 17 December, where members will make a decision on the future of the highly-admired Losehill Hall in the Hope Valley, Derbyshire. Losehill Hall has belonged to the Peak Park for 40 years. Now, officers propose to sell or lease it, to…
Read MoreMagistrates stop rights for riders and cyclists on road to Garth Mountain
Rhondda magistrates have decided to stop up the rights of riders and cyclists to use an ancient highway up to Garth Mountain in Rhondda Cynon Taff (RCT). On 3 December, the magistrates confirmed a proposal from RCT Council that all the rights except those on foot be removed from the road which runs to the…
Read MoreScar on the lovely face of Bowland
We have objected to plans to build 13 wind-turbines in the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Lancashire. The application is from Community Windpower Ltd, for Claughton Moor and Whit Moor, partly common land and partly open country, seven miles north-east of Lancaster. There is a public right to walk over the…
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Go for Green Spaces campaign
We have launched a fact-finding campaign, Go for Green Spaces, to advise government on its proposed new designation for green spaces. The Departments for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) have announced a new designation, similar to sites of special scientific interest, ‘to protect green areas of particular…
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