Renewed threat to popular Marlow path
We are dismayed that Harleyford Properties Ltd has renewed its application for planning permission for polo practice at Low Grounds Farm, near Marlow in Bucks. Wycombe District Council rejected a similar application last August because it would interfere with walkers, riders and cyclists using Harleyford Lane. The lane leads from western Marlow to the River…
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Our Caerphilly activist wins Environmental Champion Award
Maggie Thomas, our local correspondent for Caerphilly, has won the Environmental Champion prize in Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Pride in your Place award, for her work in defending public paths and open spaces. Maggie, who lives in Crosskeys, is also membership secretary for Islwyn Ramblers. Says Maggie: ‘I was thrilled to receive this award on…
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Path to Morfa Beach is saved from closure
The path to Morfa Beach, Longlands Lane at Margam in Neath Port Talbot, has been saved from closure. This follows a public inquiry in December 2013 at which the objectors included the society, the Save Morfa Beach campaign group, the Ramblers and many individuals. The inquiry inspector, Mrs Helen Slade, ruled that Longlands Lane (footpath…
Read MorePlan to desecrate Hammersmith Park
We have objected to plans by Playfootball Ltd to build football pitches with a pavilion and car park on Hammersmith Park in west London. Playfootball has submitted a planning application to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Council. We are concerned that the development will take more than one-third of the public park which…
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Environment Committee tells government it must update the common-land registers
We are delighted that the influential Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) Committee has told the government that it must update the common-land registers or implement legislation to ensure that there are accurate registers of common land for making payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The committee’s report, Implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy…
Read MoreWe back Friends of Putney Common’s court action
We have pledged financial support for the Friends of Putney Common’s appeal-court action to save the common from road-building. The Friends, a member of OSS, are appealing against the high court’s refusal to stop the Wimbledon and Putney Common Conservators, owner of the common, from allowing Wandsworth Council to build private roads on Putney Lower…
Read MoreBrendon Commons to have the first commons council
The Brendon Commons, in the Devon part of the Exmoor National Park, are to have the first-ever commons council under the Commons Act 2006. The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has decreed that the Brendon Commons Council will come into being on 1 April 2014. The Secretary of State for Environment,…
Read MoreWe fight devastation of Swansea commons
We have sent a strong objection to plans to build 16 wind turbines with associated infrastructure on Mynydd y Gwair and adjoining commons, eight miles north of Swansea. RWE npower renewables has planning permission for the development but, because it is to be sited on registered common land, the developer needs the additional consent of…
Read MoreAncient Warwickshire landscape saved
We are delighted that Galley Common, Nuneaton in Warwickshire has been saved from housing development. We were among the objectors to a planning application from A R Cartwright Ltd for 130 houses with associated infrastructure on land north of Tunnel Road. Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council refused the application in December 2012, the applicant appealed…
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Government’s miserable lack of progress on green-space promise
Wildlife and Countryside Link’s Nature Check report, signed by 41 organisations, shows a miserable lack of progress on implementing the promised Local Green Space (LGS) designation. Nature Check analyses the government’s 25 commitments on the natural environment against a traffic-light system. It reveals that nine are red, 12 are amber and only four are green.…
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