Linking the Lakes and Dales National Parks
We have joined a consortium with the Campaign for National Parks, Campaign to Protect Rural England, Friends of the Lake District and many others in support of plans to extend the boundaries of the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks. This will ensure that the magnificent countryside, much of it common land, between the…
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Government should learn from Cumbrian green-space project
‘The government could learn a lot from the Our Green Space project in Cumbria.’ So declares our general secretary Kate Ashbrook, who spoke at the project’s celebratory event in Penrith on 11 November. ‘Here five communities*, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Friends of the Lake District, have revitalised their local green…
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Access bodies launch Lancashire project to rescue lost commons
The Open Spaces Society and the British Horse Society have launched a joint project to rescue thousands of acres of lost common land and record them for public use. We are funding Steve Byrne to research land in the Lancashire area that was omitted from the commons registers in the late 1960s and early 1970s…
Read MoreGo Ape gets go-ahead at Lever Park
Chorley Council has given retrospective consent to Adventure Forest Ltd for a Go Ape development in the historic Lever Park at Rivington in Lancashire. The consent is for two zip-wire landing sites in the park which were constructed without the necessary planning permission. We opposed the development because it conflicts with the Liverpool Corporation Act…
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Ellonby Common saved from damaging development
We are relieved about the rejection of a development which would have damaged Ellonby Common, five miles north-west of Penrith in Cumbria. The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has rejected an appeal from Mr J Wilson for a bungalow in a field next to Gill Forge, Ellonby. The site adjoins the common…
Read MoreCumbrian activists threaten court action over blocked bridleway
As a last resort, the Redspearlands Footpath Group, a member of the Open Spaces Society, has served a notice on Cumbria County Council to open up the illegally blocked bridleway at Roewath Bridge at Stockdalewath, near Dalston, Carlisle. The path, which was first recorded as a right of way in 1950, has been illegally blocked…
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Bradwell Parish Council secures peace garden for ever
Bradwell Parish Council in Derbyshire has registered the Peace Garden as a village green. This will ensure that this small triangle in the heart of the village is safe for ever. Derbyshire County Council, the commons and greens registration authority, confirmed the registration on 10 May. The Open Spaces Society, which is the leading organisation…
Read MoreCommercial development of historic Lever Park
We have objected to a planning application for a ‘Go-Ape’ development in Lever Park, Chorley. Adventure Forest Ltd has applied for retrospective consent for two landing zones. These do not comply with the planning permission the company obtained in 2008. Under the Liverpool Corporation Act 1902, the public has ‘free and uninterrupted enjoyment’ throughout the…
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Successful voluntary registration for town green
Open Spaces Society member and vice-president, Tony Greaves, has reported on the successful voluntary registration of Barnoldswick Town Green in Pendle, Lancashire. The town green is an area of grass and trees in the small town of Barnoldswick (Barlick) and is a much-valued green space near the centre of the town which is well used…
Read MoreOpen Spaces Society fights development on Ellonby Common
The Open Spaces Society, Britain’s leading pressure-group for common land, has objected to a planning appeal which would damage Ellonby Common, in the parish of Skelton five miles north-west of Penrith in Cumbria. The application for a dwelling next to the common with a driveway across it was rejected by Eden District Council last September,…
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