Latest News

Brat Tor and Great Links, Dartmoor Photo: Open Spaces Society

Wild camping on Dartmoor—the need to appeal

January 16, 2023

Update: An agreement is being reached between Dartmoor National Park Authority and the landowners to enable people to keep wild camping in Dartmoor National Park without landowners’ permission. While the agreement is welcome and we are pleased the landowners have stepped up, it goes nowhere far enough to meet wild campers’ needs.   It is essential…

Read More

Dadima’s footsteps

January 9, 2023

Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, writes of a new walking experience. Geeta Ludhra (British-born woman of South Asian heritage, and a member of the Chilterns Conservation Board), has established a monthly programme of educational nature walks with a difference in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Dadima’s Walks (‘dadima’ being the Hindu noun for…

Read More

National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) consultation: our hopes and fears

January 6, 2023

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities (DLUHC) issued a consultation on 22 December seeking views on how to develop national planning policy in England, to support the government’s wider objectives. The proposals include amendments to the NPPF, the preparation of National Development Management Plans (NDMPs), policy to support levelling up, and how national…

Read More

We save Brickhill footpath, Bedford, from closure

December 23, 2022

We are delighted to have saved Brickhill footpath 9 from closure, following a public hearing in November.  We were represented by our local correspondent and veteran path-defender, Mike Clarke. The 240-metre-long path runs between Waveney Avenue in the north to Falcon Avenue in the south, across Waveney Green, Brickhill, on the north side of Bedford. …

Read More

New village green at Portishead, North Somerset

December 22, 2022

We are delighted that a new village green has been registered at Portishead’s former golf course in North Somerset, thereby securing it for ever. The land has been enjoyed for informal recreation for decades. It was purchased from Bristol City Council by the then Woodspring District Council, with a covenant which said that it was…

Read More

Access at the heart of land-use policy

December 13, 2022

On 4 July our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, and the Ramblers director of advocacy and engagement, Tom Platt, gave evidence to the House of Lords Land Use in England Committee.  They focused on the many benefits of greater public access, its lack of a home in government, and the potential for access to be central to…

Read More

Threat to our age-old freedom on Dartmoor

December 13, 2022

A high court case, which opens today, could determine the future enjoyment of wild camping in the Dartmoor National Park. Alexander Darwall, the owner of Stall Moor common on Dartmoor, claims that the right of access under the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 does not include the right to wild camp. People have enjoyed this activity…

Read More

Lizard Downs, Cornwall, registered as common land

December 9, 2022

The extensive Lizard Downs in west Cornwall has been registered as common land, thanks to our efforts. The land, which is 116 hectares of splendid open moorland, failed to be finally registered as common during the three-year period allowed by the Commons Registration Act 1965.  Part 1 of the Commons Act 2006 re-opened the door…

Read More

Inspector kicks out plan for football pitches on London common land

December 2, 2022

With local residents we have scored a big win for public open space by defeating controversial plans for a commercial football facility on common land. Following a seven-day public inquiry, a government-appointed planning inspector has kicked out proposed fenced and floodlit football-pitches in a tranquil and secluded part of Tooting Bec Common, known as the…

Read More

Our loyal member Tony Newman (1929-2021)

December 2, 2022

Our member for 50 years, the late Tony Newman, has left us a generous legacy. Tony was born in Tottenham, north London, in 1929.  He lived in London and Surrey during his childhood, and began his working life in Thomas Cook’s head office in Piccadilly, in the winter-sports department.  After National Service, from 1947 to…

Read More