We fight common-land swap on unique Staines Moor
We have objected to plans by Heathrow Airport Ltd to take common land and open space at Staines Moor in Surrey for the construction of a new rail-link. The promoters are offering land in exchange, but we consider this to be grossly inadequate. Staines Moor is a unique, medieval landscape, surviving as a previous wilderness…
Read MoreTop ornithologist condemns ‘crass’ action by council in Oxfordshire woodland
We are pressing North Hinksey Parish Council to drop its plans to make ‘improvements’ in the wooded part of the Louie Memorial Fields.(1) The council’s plans are not known in detail because they have not been divulged to the public, but among other things, the intention is to hard-surface the path through woods, a charming…
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Protest walk highlights unfair bar to public access on Sussex Downs
On 12 June a band of 60 walkers joined the Action for Access protest walk to highlight the unfair banning of public access to open downland in the new South Downs National Park. The land is at Breaky Bottom, on the chalk escarpment between Brighton and Lewes in East Sussex, owned by Peter Hall of…
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Plan to alleygate popular Luton footpath
Luton Borough Council plans to erect locked gates across the popular Beech Hill footpath. The path provides a direct and useful link between Dunstable Road and Ash Road, and to Beech Hill Community Primary School. In 2008 the council abandoned its plan to close the route, which was illegally blocked and, with the Bedfordshire Rights…
Read MoreProtest walk
Join the protest walk at Breaky Bottom, near Rodmell, East Sussex on Saturday 12 June. Meet at Southease station (on the rail line from Lewes to Newhaven and Seaford) at 10.35 am. Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, with many walkers, will be demonstrating against the exclusion of the public from a piece of freedom-to-roam downland at…
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Maulden footpath reopened at last
The long-blocked Maulden footpath 28, seven miles south of Bedford, has at last been reopened for the public. Maulden footpath number 28 had been illegally blocked by a fence, animal shelter, heap of animal dung, gate, fence and brick wall. (2) Alan Bowers, the owner of land crossed by the path, built a house, number…
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Faircote Hall fiasco
Wealden District Council has given retrospective planning consent for a riding arena at Faircote Hall and stud, Hartfield in East Sussex, and the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government has refused the society’s request to call in the controversial application. The arena had been built unlawfully, without planning consent. Furthermore, it crosses a…
Read MoreWarlingham village green wins protection
A new village green has been registered in Surrey and saved from development. The green, known as The Back Green, is in Sunnybank, near Warlingham. We have congratulated the applicant Lee Fishwick, and those in the community who supported the application. Surrey County Council, the registration authority, agreed on 16 December 2009 to register the…
Read MoreNew path is won at Emmer Green
Our member Paul Gallagher of the Emmer Green Resident’s Association, and local residents, have succeeded in claiming a footpath, from Russet Glade to Jefferson Close, Emmer Green, Reading, for the definitive map of public paths. This follows a four-year campaign, culminating in a public inquiry in April at which there were three objectors. Mr Gallagher…
Read MoreThanet’s plans to sell off open space
We have deplored plans by Thanet District Council to sell off open spaces, which will be discussed at an extraordinary cabinet meeting on 20 May. The cabinet will hear from members of the public on its ‘potential asset disposal sites’ and will take a decision on the sell-off at a later date. There are plans…
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