Books make great Christmas presents
Do you know someone who loves the outdoors, perhaps enjoys walking, riding or cycling in our countryside, on coastal paths or in urban parks or green spaces? OSS has written, curated and sponsored a range of publications on topics including a history of public paths, how to register and protect a village green and an…
Read More
New village green at Widmer Fields, Bucks
We are delighted that the Grange Area Trust has voluntarily registered Widmer Fields as a village green. This means that this 42-acre open space, at Hazlemere and Widmer End in Buckinghamshire, is saved for ever and local people have rights of recreation here. The Grange Area Trust has been campaigning for more than 40 years…
Read More
Kirkby Moor turbines must go
We are delighted that South Lakeland District Council’s planning committee has rejected an application to extend the life of the Kirkby Moor wind farm to 2027. The application was made by Innogy Renewables on behalf of Zephyr Investments Ltd. We objected because the turbines are a severe intrusion in a wild landscape, highly visible from…
Read More
We fight festival closure of Thames Path National Trail
We have objected to plans by the Henley Festival to close the Thames Path National Trail during the event which runs from Wednesday 11 July to Sunday 15 July 2018 Every year the Festival applies to Wokingham Borough Council, the highway authority, for the temporary closure of the path during the Festival, and the council…
Read More
The search for lost commons
We have launched a search for common land which must be registered and protected. The Commons Registration Act 1965 required all commons to be registered but allowed only three years for this to be done. Some commons which were provisionally registered were subsequently struck off on spurious grounds. Now, it is possible, in the ‘pioneer…
Read More
Henley hosts training for recording public paths
Walkers, riders and cyclists from Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire gathered at Henley-on-Thames town hall last Saturday (18 November) to learn how to research and record lost public paths. Henley’s Mayor, Kellie Hinton, and Councillor Sarah Miller were there. We organised the event with our member Henley-on-Thames Town Council. Experts Sarah Bucks and Phil Wadey presented…
Read More
Conditional welcome to commencement of common-land provisions in Wales
We have welcomed the commencement of further provisions about common land in Wales—but have lamented the Welsh Government’s failure to communicate. The Welsh Ministers have made a commencement order(1) to bring into force provisions in the Commons Act 2006 about freedom of access to information in the commons registers, and about obtaining official copies of…
Read More
Court of Appeal rules against quiet enjoyment of London’s parks
We are disappointed that the Court of Appeal has upheld the use of London parks for major ticket-only entertainments. In its judgment today,(1) the court finds that Haringey borough council acted lawfully in hiring out part of Finsbury Park for the purposes of a major entertainment event, the Wireless Festival, in 2016.(2) The court rejected…
Read More
Planning for the right homes in the right places
Working through Wildlife and Countryside Link, the society and eight other organisations including The Woodland Trust and The Wildlife Trusts have supported a response to the Department for Communities and Local Government on the consultation, Planning for the Right Homes in the Right Places. We believe the government’s ambition for housing must include the provision…
Read More
We join fight to save Nutsford Vale park, Manchester
We have urged Manchester City Council to reject the proposed development of Nutsford Vale, a council-owned park on the borders of Longsight, Levenshulme and Gorton in south-east Manchester. We have backed our member, the Friends of Nutsford Vale, in opposing a proposed school building, sports hall, car-park and other facilities. The development, occupying about 5.5…
Read More