Chester walking club celebrates centenary in style
‘The Chester Rambling and Hill Walking Club has provided pleasure and adventure to walkers for 100 years. It could take a lead in campaigning for walkers’ rights too.’ So said Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary, speaking at the club’s centenary dinner in Chester on Thursday 16 May. More than 135 club members at the dinner…
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York Council told to ramp up its work on public paths
We are pleased that the local government ombudsman has told the City of York Council that it must speed up its work on updating the official (definitive) map of public paths. This follows a complaint by our member Graham Cheyne about the council’s inaction on his application to add a path at Fulford to the…
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Make OSS your Amazon Smile Charity Beneficiary
AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for you to support Open Spaces Society every time you shop, at no cost to you. When you shop at smile.amazon.co.uk, you’ll find the same Amazon prices, selection and convenient shopping experience, with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to the charity…
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Campaign to Double the Number of School Children Enjoying our National Parks
Although over 60,000 school children visit the national parks each year, the government has long promised increases to this number. The Society, as a member of a coalition of five charities including Campaign for National Parks and with celebrity support, has now demanded urgent action to more than double the number of school children who…
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Fylingdales fencing plan rejected
We are delighted that a proposal for fencing across splendid moorland in the North York Moors National Park has been rejected. Planning inspector Martin Elliott has refused consent to the Manor of Fyling Court Leat, to erect over five kilometres of fencing on Fylingdales Moor. The applicant wanted to graze livestock there, but was deterred…
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East Sussex steps up to replace missing signposts
We are pleased that East Sussex County Council has responded to pressure from path campaigners and has replaced missing signposts on many public paths in the county. Our local correspondents and other members reported missing signposts early in 2018, as part of the campaign to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Countryside Act 1968 which…
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Help Celebrate The Ninth Birthday Of South Downs National Park
The Hampshire Area & South East Hants Group of the Ramblers are organising an event to celebrate the ninth anniversary of the South Downs National Park. All are welcome. It is at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park Centre, near Petersfield in Hampshire (grid reference SU 719 186) on Saturday 30th March at 10.30 am. Join us in the marquee at the…
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New Track Would Desecrate Naphill Common
We are dismayed that Wycombe District Council has approved development, which includes a new track across Naphill Common in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The consent is for three houses in place of one at Heatherlands on Downley Road. Naphill is about three miles north-west of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. Naphill Common We…
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Pledge To Protect And Preserve National Parks In Celebration Of Their Seventieth Anniversary
Seventy years after an Act of Parliament was passed creating national parks in England and Wales, five of the original campaigning organisations came together once again to pledge to protect and preserve the parks for future generations and make access for everyone easier. Campaign for National Parks, Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), the Open…
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We Save Bridleway Across School Grounds
We have helped to save a 935-metre-long section of public bridleway across the grounds of Christ’s Hospital School, near Horsham in West Sussex. Our local correspondent, Paul Brown, and society member Ruth Fletcher (of the Horsham District Cycling Forum) were among the objectors who fought the change at a public inquiry—and won. The existing bridleway…
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