Last chance to grab your greens – do it now!
Our new-year message. We have made a last-minute call to communities to apply to register land as town or village greens. The government’s Growth and Infrastructure Bill, currently in the House of Lords, emasculates the process. The government falsely claims that greens registration is a barrier to development and wants to stop this. Clause 14…
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Open Space Award 2013
Read about the winners of our Open Space Award 2013 here. And you can view photos from the winning projects here. Shortlisted projects 1. Riverhill Regeneration Project, Cobham Conservation & Heritage Trust, Cobham, Surrey Summary of reasons for nomination as given by proposer: ‘The Riverhill Regeneration Project has been the Trust’s most ambitious project to date, the…
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New ammunition for fighting landowners’ path-diversions
Ever since we received a favourable opinion from George Laurence QC on the interpretation of ‘expedient’ in section 119 of the Highways Act 1980 (the section which deals with the diversion of public paths), the Ramblers and ourselves have been looking for a suitable case on which to test this. The case emerged when the…
Read MoreSlow down! It’s a common!
This article was published on the Headline Environment website, On the Agenda, 12 October 2012. Responding to a recent Department of Transport consultation, Kate Ashbrook explains why the Open Spaces Society has advocated a 40mph limit on all roads through commons and how this is an important step in maintaining the open and unenclosed nature…
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Public Inquiry on Westfield Playing Fields, Harpenden, Hertfordshire
This will take place on December 10th. The Playing Field is a landlocked 2 hectare site, and has been used by local people for over a hundred years for sports and informal recreation. The land comprises the last remaining part of what was formerly Westfield Common. WAG (Westfield Action Group) under its Chair, Harpenden resident…
Read MoreRights of Way: Restoring the Record
Want to check historic rights on a track but don’t know where to start? Need to find extra evidence before a public inquiry? Worried about your first visit to an archive office? Experienced, but just want to check which Act authorised which activities? Then you need Rights of Way: Restoring the Record, the new research…
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Common ground not battleground
Article published on Headline Environment website, On the Agenda, 11 September 2012 Commons are unique and precious places to be treasured by all, says Kate Ashbrook, of the Open Spaces Society, as she welcomes the publication of a revised version of A Common Purpose. Kate Ashbrook writes: Common land has for centuries been a…
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Painting of Hound Tor, Dartmoor, Devon
We are pleased to offer this unique opportunity to own an original painting and thereby support the work of the Open Spaces Society. Our local correspondent, Bob Milton, has kindly offered his original painting of Hound Tor on Dartmoor, Devon, for auction to raise funds for the society. Please send sealed bids to: Ellen Froggatt,…
Read MoreOur campaign challenges for the year ahead
‘We should never forget that the Open Spaces Society is a hard hitting, agile and quick reacting campaigning organisation, able and willing to be controversial, radical and perhaps at times unpopular in pursuit of its charitable objects.’ So said Tim Crowther, our chairman, in moving the adoption of the society’s annual report at our annual…
Read MoreAutumn 2011 – New threats to green spaces
Autumn Appeal 2011 – the new threats to green spaces Click here to read our response to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs with regard to their consultation on village greens. Click here to read our response to government on the National Planning Policy Framework. Please complete and return the form below if…
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