Land at Garrow Lane, Mullion, registered as common
We have welcomed the decision of Cornwall Council to grant our application to register as common approximately 0.63 hectares of land. The strip of mixed vegetation is situated on Garrow Lane, just south of Mullion. In 1968, an application was made to register the land as common land but was subject to an objection. The…
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User groups save Gloucestershire highway
A precious public ‘green road’ has been protected by user groups combining efforts to resist Gloucestershire County Council’s application to a magistrates’ court to extinguish public rights[1] over Hanover Green Road[2] in the parish of Redmarley D’Abitot. Cheltenham magistrates found the track to be necessary for the public to use, particularly on foot and by…
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We rescue part of ancient Knighton Heath, Dorset
We have welcomed a decision to see off a threat to Knighton Heath in Dorset. In 1957, parts of Winfrith and Knighton Heaths were compulsorily acquired by the government for use as an atomic energy establishment. A small part (one third of a hectare) of Knighton Heath, south of Gibraltar Cottage and not required for…
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Land at St Breward, Cornwall, registered as common
The Planning Inspectorate has granted the society’s application to register as common land approximately 1.25 hectares of waste in St Breward parish, Cornwall. The land is situated about a kilometre north-east of the village of St Breward and is sandwiched between two parcels of existing registered common land. The land comprises ferns, bushy undergrowth and…
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We free Cornish footpath from illegal obstruction
Through threat of legal action, we have achieved the removal of several illegal obstructions on a public footpath at St Ervan, three miles south-west of Padstow. Lucy Wilson, our local correspondent for North Cornwall, threatened to go to court for the removal of two unlawful gates on St Ervan footpath 16, south of Treglinnick Farm. …
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Right to backpack camp on Dartmoor’s commons confirmed by appeal court
We are delighted that three judges in the court of appeal have unanimously overturned the high court ruling and resolved that there is a right to backpack (wild) camp on Dartmoor’s common land. The full judgment can be read here. The society intervened in the court of appeal to support the Dartmoor National Park Authority…
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An update on the Dartmoor backpack-camping appeal
The court of appeal hearing of Dartmoor National Park Authority and Open Spaces Society v Darwall was on 18 July, and can be watched here. Our aim was to overturn the ruling of Sir Julian Flaux in the high court in January that the term ‘open-air recreation’ in section 10 of the Dartmoor Commons Act…
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Common land restored: ‘The Bunny Hill’ in Cornwall
We are delighted by the planning inspectorate’s decision to grant the society’s application to register as common land 3.86 hectares of land at The Bunny Hill and part of Fentongoose Common. The land is situated approximately four kilometres south-west of Truro in Cornwall, and north-west of Carrine Common. The land comprises trees interspersed with scrub…
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Dartmoor backpack camping: we join case in court of appeal
Update July 2023: the appeal was heard on July 18 2023. A summary and link to watch can be found here. Update June 2023: the society has submitted to the court a witness statement, made by case officer Hugh Craddock, and the society’s skeleton argument, courtesy of Richard Honey KC, Ned Westaway and Esther Drabkin-Reiter,…
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Backpack camping: Dartmoor National Park Authority to appeal
We are delighted that the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) members have unanimously agreed to appeal against the high court judgment on the Dartmoor backpack camping case. The owners of Stall Moor common. Alexander and Diana Darwall, challenged the DNPA’s argument that the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985, in giving the public the right to walk…
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