Our five-point plan for 2025

In our recent new-year message we were pleased to set out our top five campaign aims for 2025.

We’re calling for:

1. Lost commons to be registerable throughout England.  Currently they can only be registered in Cumbria and North Yorkshire, yet landowners can apply to deregister commons throughout England, which is grossly unfair.
2. A mandate on developers to create open space within developments and to register it as a town or village green, thus securing it for ever and giving local people rights of recreation there.
3. The repeal of the cut-off for claims for unrecorded paths (2031 in England, 2026 in Wales), already promised by both governments but requiring parliamentary and senedd time to enact.
4. A national consultation by ministers on public access, as promised before the election; and action from Welsh government on proposals presented to it by its adviser, Natural Resources Wales, in 2021—these arose from extensive work with access experts, and include responsible freedom to roam over more land including the coast, better means of access to existing access land, and improved rights for horse-riders, and cyclists.
5. Good-quality open space to be assured within 15-minutes’ walk of people’s homes, as set out in the Westminster government’s Environmental Improvement Plan.

Says our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook: ‘This year the Open Spaces Society celebrates its 160^th anniversary.  There is no better way to mark this than to step up our campaigns to secure green spaces, and to protect and increase the public’s right to enjoy paths and open spaces.  These are vital to our health and wellbeing in an increasingly pressurised and chaotic world.’

Header image: Diana Parkhouse