Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill
The Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill (the bill) was introduced into parliament on 11 May 2022. The second reading will take place on 8 June. The stated ambition of the bill is to reverse the geographical disparities between different parts of the UK by spreading opportunity more equally. The bill includes a broad range of measures…
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A statement on the Queen’s Speech
A statement on today’s Queen’s Speech from our General Secretary, Kate Ashbrook. ‘The society is pleased that the Queen’s Speech, made on 10 May, includes a Levelling-Up and Regeneration Bill, but is adamant that levelling up must include public access to green spaces and to nature. The society criticised the Levelling-Up White Paper in February…
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Criminalising bottles on the beach at Whitstable, Kent
We have criticised a draft public spaces protection order [1] for Whitstable [2] in Kent which will make criminals of many of its residents and visitors. Canterbury City Council has consulted on a draft order which would apply to the ‘Whitstable and Herne Bay Coastal Zone’. It would create new criminal offences to address activities having…
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Blackbushe aerodrome remains a common
We have welcomed the decision of the supreme court not to grant leave to appeal against a decision that Blackbushe aerodrome should remain registered as common land. The aerodrome lies on Yateley Common in Hampshire. It was established as a temporary wartime measure.[1] It is now operated by Blackbushe Airport Limited (BAL). Yateley Common,…
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‘Natural Health Service’ proposed by access campaigners on anniversary of Kinder trespass
Access campaigners have called for a new movement to campaign for a ‘Natural Heath Service’ through greater access to our countryside. The proposal was presented at the 90th anniversary celebrations of the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass at Hayfield on Saturday (April 23). Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary, told a packed audience in The Royal Hotel:…
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Herefordshire’s historic Boat Lane, near Ross-On-Wye, is now on the map
We are delighted that the ancient Boat Lane, in the parishes of Goodrich and Walford south of Ross-on-Wye, has been added to Herefordshire Council’s definitive map of public paths, after a 20-year campaign. The route was claimed in 2003 by the society’s former local correspondent for south Herefordshire, Owen Morgan. He argued that the lane…
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Our new guide to saving green spaces
We have published a new edition of Getting Greens Registered, our step-by-step guide to registering land in England and Wales as a town or village green. Once registered, the land is protected from development and encroachment, and local people have rights of recreation there. The new (fourth) edition explains how local people must gather evidence…
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Happy returns?
Anniversaries are opportunities. So writes our general secretary Kate Ashbrook in her Opinion piece in the spring issue of Open Space. Ninety years ago this April, the trespassers on Kinder Scout in the Peak District made a brave bid for freedom. It is sad that government has not marked this event with a strong statement…
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2026 Guillotine for historic ways is to be abolished
We are delighted that the government is to scrap the 2026 deadline for recording historic paths in England. This deadline has, for more than 20 years, threatened our unique path-network. The deadline meant that on 1 January 2026, public rights over thousands of paths, which are public highways but not yet recorded as such, or…
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New green secured voluntarily in Dartmouth, Devon
We are delighted that the historic community-orchard in Dartmouth, Devon, is now officially a village green. On 2 February, the society joined an event organised by the Friends of Dartmouth Community Orchard and Dartmouth Town Council to unveil the plaque marking this achievement. Now that the orchard is registered as a green with Devon County…
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