Councillors approve gating order for Hove path
We are dismayed that Brighton and Hove councillors have approved a gating order for Farman Street, Hove. The council’s ‘Environment Improvements’ officer, Simon Bannister, proposed to lock people out of the street between 9pm and 8am, claiming that the route is associated with crime and anti-social behaviour. We have said all along that the council…
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Chiltern common saved from enclosure
We are relieved that the environment secretary has rejected plans by the Nettlebed and District Commons Conservators to erect more than two kilometres of fencing around Kingwood Common in the Oxfordshire Chilterns. The application for works on the common under section 38 of the Commons Act 2006 was heard at a public inquiry in April,…
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New Hampshire trail commemorates path worker
On Saturday 23 April Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary, paid tribute to Brenda Parker, who did so much for walkers in Hampshire. Kate cut the ribbon to open the Brenda Parker Way, a 78-mile long-distance path through north Hampshire between Andover and Aldershot. The route has been devised, created and waymarked by the Ramblers, Hampshire…
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Public inquiry opens into plan to enclose chiltern common
On 19 April a public inquiry opens into plans by the Nettlebed and District Commons Conservators to erect more than two kilometres of fencing around the lovely Kingwood Common in the Oxfordshire Chilterns. We are among the objectors. The society has objected on three counts. 1. We believe that the law does not allow Kingwood…
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Valuable highway under threat of alley-gating
The Open Spaces Society has objected to a draft alley-gating order, made by Windsor & Maidenhead Council, which would close a valuable footpath between Culley Way and Farmers Close in Cox Green. The council’s Alley Gating Panel considered that the path should be gated because of alleged crime and anti-social behaviour in the area, despite…
Read MoreHorse-development rejected in Chatham countryside
We have helped to prevent a damaging development, at Capstone Road, Chatham in Medway, from going ahead. The application was for the excavation of land for the creation of a riding ménage and construction of a stable block next to Drowlhill Woods. Our Medway local correspondent, the indefatigable 94-year-old Pat Wilson, opposed the plan when…
Read MoreFirst victory in battle to restore St Catherine’s Hill common
We have won the first round in the battle to restore parts of St Catherine’s Hill Common lost to illegal privatisation. We welcomed the decision by the Planning Inspectorate to reject an application from Guildford Borough Council, the owner of St Catherine’s Hill Common south of Guildford in Surrey, to plant a hollybush screen, three…
Read MoreBBC Radio Oxford interview
On Sunday 6 February our general secretary had an hour-long interview with Bill Heine on BBC Radio Oxford. She chatted about public paths, forestry privatisation, village greens, common land and campaigning. You can listen to it here: BBC Radio Oxford interview.
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We’re not out of the woods yet
‘While today we can celebrate the government’s abandonment of plans to flog off England’s public forest estate, we are not out of the woods yet. There is still a campaign to be fought.’ So said Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary at a well-attended rally in Friston Forest, in the South Downs National Park (between Eastbourne…
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Plan to privatise public path at Cox Green
We have objected to a plan by Windsor & Maidenhead Council to close a footpath between Culley Way and Farmers Close in Cox Green. The council is recommending to its Alley Gating Panel on Tuesday 22 March that the path should be gated because of crime and anti-social behaviour in the area. The Berkshire Ramblers…
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