Mixed news from Defra
Yesterday’s announcement of the spending review 2015’s effect on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contained mixed news. The good news is that the funding for national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty and public forests is protected. National parks ‘will be given legal flexibilities to allow them to build sustainable, long-term revenue…
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Gigantic wind-turbines rejected on Lake District boundary
South Lakeland District Council has rejected plans for a giant wind-farm on common land at Kirkby Moor, Cumbria, on the edge of the Lake District National Park. The council’s planning committee refused, by nine votes to two, the application from the energy company RWE Innogy UK Ltd. This was to replace twelve wind turbines with…
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Campaigner Kate wins ‘Outdoor Personality of the Year’ award
Our general secretary Kate Ashbrook has won The Great Outdoors magazine’s Outdoor Personality of the Year award, topping a shortlist of 11 which included mountaineers Sir Chris Bonington and Alan Hinkes, and fellrunner Jos Naylor. Kate was nominated as ‘a knowledgeable and fearless campaigner for our rights in the great outdoors’. Kate is also president…
Read MoreWe fight fencing on national park common
We have objected to an application to erect more than half a mile of fencing on Westerdale Common in the North York Moors National Park. The Graziers of High Blakey Moor have applied to the Planning Inspectorate for consent for the fence on common land to prevent sheep straying. The fence is on open country…
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Circuit of Wales racetrack to drive through common land
The Welsh Government’s Deputy Minister for Farming and Food, Rebecca Evans, has approved the deregistration and exchange of a square mile of common land, to enable the Circuit of Wales mega-motorsport development to be built on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park in south Wales. The application from the Heads of the Valleys…
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Dismay at Derbyshire’s cuts to the rights-of-way service
We are disappointed that Derbyshire County Council is likely to go ahead with its proposed cuts to the rights-of-way budget, following a controversial consultation in the summer. These cuts could result in the loss of up to three staff and the extension of target times for resolving path complaints, so that it could take up…
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Multi million pound Firle footpath ploughed up again
Yet again, the Firle Estate has ploughed up a path for which it gets a huge subsidy to keep open. The path, which runs south from the Barley Mow Pub at Selmeston, is one of the reasons that the Firle estate gets millions of pounds worth of Inheritance Tax relief. Until the Open Spaces Society…
Read MoreNew funding initiative to create ‘pocket parks’
The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has announced a new programme that supports communities to work with local authorities and other partners to establish a pocket park. Pocket Parks are envisaged as small areas of inviting public space where people can enjoy relief from the hustle and bustle of city streets DCLG is…
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We back new vision for Cambrian Mountains
‘We need a new vision for the Cambrian Mountains to ensure their protection.’ So said Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary, guest speaker at the annual general meeting of the Cambrian Mountains Society in Llandrindod Wells on Saturday (31 October). ‘It is outrageous that these splendid, inspiring landscapes have no overall protection and have to rely…
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We applaud new public path in North Norfolk
A landowner, Wayware Ltd of Southrepps Hall, has dedicated a public byway in the parishes of Sustead and Aldborough and Thurgarton in North Norfolk. The 1,055-metre route leaves Sustead Lane at about 300 yards west of St Peter and St Pauls’ church, Sustead, running in a west-south-westerly direction. It connects Sustead Lane and Bessingham Road…
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