A new village green: the perfect Christmas gift for your community
We have called on landowners, particularly local councils, to consider dedicating land as a town or village green as the perfect Christmas gift to the community. Once land is registered as a green it is protected, by nineteenth-century laws, from development and local people have rights of informal recreation there. It is open to any…
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We persuade Harwich developer to provide new town green
We have persuaded M Scott Properties Ltd to provide a town green, 160 square metres in extent, in exchange for part of a town green of the same area which it proposes to take for development. In July M Scott Properties applied to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs for consent…
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Doors open to rescue lost commons in Cumbria and North Yorkshire
On 15 December, for the first time in 45 years, the public can win lost commons in Cumbria and North Yorkshire and gain rights to walk, and possibly ride, on them. This could lead to a significant new area of land for public enjoyment. Cumbria and North Yorkshire are to be added to the list of…
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An alternative Christmas present
Make Christmas 2017 the year you introduce your family and friends to the Open Spaces Society by giving membership gift vouchers. The perfect present idea for walkers, riders and cyclists who enjoy the outdoors and appreciate our amazing landscapes and public paths. It starts from just £3/month or £33 for a whole year for an…
Read MoreBooks 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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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