Wiltshire’s Watercress Walk Is Now Recognised As A Public Path
The society is delighted that the Watercress Walk in west Wiltshire has been recognised as a public path, following a public inquiry in September. The route runs through woodland and by a stream east of Luccombe Mill in the parishes of Bratton and Edington and crosses land owned by Mr Henry Pelly of Luccombe Mill,…
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Pulling The Trigger On Village Greens
Cooper Estates Strategic Land Ltd v Wiltshire Council and Richard Gosnell and Royal Wootton Bassett Town Council. This is the first court case to pronounce on the meaning of ‘trigger events’ (as defined in section 15C of, and schedule 1A to, the Commons Act 2006) and has worrying implications. Such an event, which includes the…
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Threat to valued footpath at Tisbury, Wiltshire
We have objected to a planning application from the Wardour School governors to move a public footpath (Tisbury footpath 83) which runs across a field adjacent to the school. The school wants to fence in the path with steel post-and-wire mesh. The school has previously tried to move the path under the Highways Act 1980,…
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We criticise new road-junction on Leigh Common, Dorset
We have criticised the Secretary of State for Environment for granting consent for further works on Leigh Common near Wimborne in Dorset. However, we welcome the views of his inspector that there are ‘clear policy reasons to reject an application for this proposal’ under the procedure adopted by the developers, even though she went on…
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Campaign to reopen ancient Gloucestershire route
We are pressing Gloucestershire County Council to reopen the ancient Bentley Lane, which runs to the east of Southam village onto Cleeve Common. The lane has been blocked by gates since 2010. The old track is laid out in the Bishops Cleeve Inclosure Award of 1836 with a width of 30 feet. It leads directly…
Read MoreSigned, sealed, delivered! Public footpaths signposted in memory of Gloucestershire benefactor
Gloucestershire County Council’s public rights of way team has recently completed the replacement and repair of numerous footpath signs in parishes around Cheltenham. These include Andoversford, Sevenhampton, Stoke Orchard and Winchcombe. The work was made possible by the Bradbury Bequest, a fund which was established in 1959 on the death of Herbert Lucas Bradbury, a…
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We oppose development on Cornish common
We have objected to a proposed holiday-development on registered common land near Cardinham, about four miles north-east of Bodmin in Cornwall. The land is within the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on Bodmin Moor. Other objectors are the Ramblers and Cornwall Council’s own Commons Registration Officer. Dr and Mrs Smirthwaite of Moor Cottage, Cardinham,…
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We back call for truly coastal access at Lee Abbey beauty-spot
The society is backing the Ramblers, the Exmoor Society and the Exmoor Local Access Forum in calling on Natural England (NE) to create a truly coastal path on the north Devon coast at Lee Abbey, a mile and a half west of Lynton. The Exmoor National Park Authority also wants NE to re-examine the proposed…
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Colan bridleway saved
We are delighted that Cornwall Council has rejected two planning application to station a total of 91 residential-park dwellings on land close to a public bridleway and common land, at Quintrell Downs, Colan, north Cornwall. The new residents would have been forced to drive along the bridleway to gain access to the A392 road to…
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Amenity organisations call for an immediate end to zoo parking on the Downs
National and local amenity organisations today called on Bristol City Council to put an immediate end to zoo parking on the Downs. In a joint statement, Bristol Civic Society, the Friends of the Downs and Avon Gorge, the Open Spaces Society, the Ramblers, and the Redland and Cotham Amenity Association said: ‘The Downs are one…
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