Now you can walk the secret multi-million pound footpaths of Firle
But you will need your wellies on! Open Spaces Society member Chris Smith has created a walk highlighting the secret multi-million pound footpaths of Firle. You can find it on-line here. The Firle Estate, near Lewes in East Sussex, contains some of the most iconic walking landscape in the country, including the Firle Beacon stretch…
Read MoreWe object to abuse of St John’s Lye common, Woking
We have responded angrily to Woking Borough Council’s consultation about car-parking on St John’s Lye Common, south-west Woking, Surrey. Local residents had complained about the inadequate parking after the opening of the new St John’s memorial hall and the council proposed to provide car-parking spaces on the common. The options are for the extension onto…
Read MoreWe welcome proposed commons council for Bodmin Moor
The society is backing a plan to create a commons council for Bodmin Moor in Cornwall. This would be the second commons council created under the Commons Act 2006—the first was established for the Brendon Hills in Devon in April 2014. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is consulting on whether…
Read MoreWe say ‘no’ to the Lowthers
The society has once again objected to renewed plans by the Lowther Estate to develop White Moss Common next to the A591 between Rydal Water and Grasmere in the Lake District National Park. Last year the estate applied for a visitor centre and hierarchy of routes at the existing car-park but the Lake District National…
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Chunks of the Lake District National Park to be sold
Update, 16 March 2015 Bidding closed on 12 March and the Lake District National Park Authority has published an update on its website. It reports that: We have identified new future owners for two properties (Longbridge, Portinscale and Lady Wood, White Moss) We are in discussions with a charitable body for one property (Blea Brows)…
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Historic Gloucestershire field is saved as a village green
We are delighted that our member, the Nympsfield Village Green Action Group, has succeeded in registering The Leaze in Nympsfield, six miles south-west of Stroud in Gloucestershire, as a village green. Mr Ian Crossland of the group applied to Gloucestershire County Council, the greens registration authority, to register The Leaze in 2009. At that time…
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Proposed ‘environmental trust’ is irrelevant
The announcement by the Circuit of Wales developers that they intend to set up an ecological trust to fund environmental improvements around the development site at Ebbw Vale is irrelevant. The society is to appear at the public inquiry on Thursday [19 March] in opposition to the developers’ proposals for exchange of common land. The…
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New tool-kit to save open spaces
We have launched our campaign to save England’s much-loved open spaces. We have published an open spaces tool-kit for communities to protect their green spaces, and have called on planning authorities to respond positively to requests to save local spaces. Our tool-kit consists of three handbooks: How to win local green space through neighbourhood plans;…
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We call on landowner to stop destroying Anglesey common
We have called on Mrs Dilys Lowe, the owner of land at Glandwr Cottage, Glanrafon, Llangoed in Anglesey, to stop building a bungalow on registered common land. Mrs Lowe has planning permission for the bungalow but has been told by Anglesey County Council and others that the work is unlawful unless she obtains the consent…
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We fight plan to replace wind turbines on Cumbrian commons
We have objected to plans by RWE Innogy to replace the wind turbines on common land at Kirkby Moor, Cumbria, with much bigger ones. When the planning consent for the 12 turbines expires in 2018, Pegasus plans to replace them with six turbines which are more than twice the height. Whereas the current turbines are 42.2…
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