Public access to woods and forests under threat
We are deeply concerned at the potential effects of the Public Bodies Bill on the future of the Forestry Commission’s estate. The Bill has its second reading in the House of Lords on 9 November. The Bill empowers the Secretary of State by order to amend how the Forestry Commission disposes of land, manages and…
Read MoreWestfield Common, Woking, saved from degradation
A public-inquiry inspector has rejected Woking Borough Council’s plans to swap part of Westfield Common at Woking in Surrey, to provide an access road to a potential new housing development. The decision from the inspector, Heidi Cruickshank, followed a public inquiry last July into the application for the exchange of common land, to which there…
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Cornwall’s flagship footpath illegally blocked
We have called on Cornwall Council to act swiftly in reopening the illegally-blocked section of the South West Coast Path at Carlyon Bay, near St Austell in Cornwall. The route has been partially blocked by fencing and a portacabin, erected in connection with Commercial Estates Group Ltd’s multi-million-pound development, and our member Gloria Price has…
Read MoreMumbles headland is under threat
The Amusement Equipment Company Ltd (AMECO) plans to develop the headland and foreshore at Mumbles, west of Swansea. We have objected to the planning application which includes apartments, a hotel and entertainment centre and involves deregistration of common land on the clifftop. Not only will this development be an intrusion on the edge of the…
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New plan for unique Odiham Common
Hart District Council has published its ten-year management plan for Odiham Common in north Hampshire. (Click to read) The plan is the result of 18 months’ work by an advisory group,(1) and a significant investment by the district council. The 284-acre common, which is owned by Hart District Council, is a site of special scientific…
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Our activists gather for training weekend
Sixteen of our local correspondents, with trustees and other friends and staff, met at Losehill Hall, in the heart of the Peak District National Park, for a training weekend in mid October. The event was generously funded by the Bantam Trust and the Ramblers Holidays Charitable Trust. We held a number of sessions and workshops…
Read MorePart of unique Galleywood Common lost for ever
Land at Galleywood Common, near Chelmsford in Essex, is to be sacrificed for industrial development. Galleywood is an ancient common which is mentioned in the Domesday Book and was at that time four times its present size. A four-day public inquiry was held last June into Chelmsford Borough Council’s proposal to swap part of Galleywood…
Read MoreBrick pillars on Chailey Common must go
Lewes District Council’s planning applications committee has rejected a retrospective application for brick pillars on Chailey Common, East Sussex, at its meeting on 13 October. The councillors threw out the application from the owners of White Cottage, Haywards Heath Road, North Chailey, because they considered the brick piers bearing the house name were incongruous in…
Read MoreLand swap for Runton Common
We are disappointed that the Planning Inspectorate has agreed to a land swap at Runton Common, west of Cromer on the north Norfolk coast, to enable Norfolk County Council to carry out highway improvements on the C293 Station Road over the railway. Because Norfolk County Council is to take, by compulsory purchase, registered common land…
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Wormley nature reserve saved
The nature reserve in Wormley, south of Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, has been saved from demotion. Broxbourne Borough Council, in its draft Local Development Framework 2011-2021, threatened to remove the Top Field and Cozens Grove local nature reserve from the green belt, which would have laid it open to development. After lobbying by local people, the…
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