Vineyard development rejected in Kent beauty-spot
Gravesham Borough Council has refused a planning application from Mr Gurmeet Bassi for development in connection with his vineyard at Meopham in Kent. This is in a prominent position in an area of natural beauty, close to popular public footpaths. The application included a new barn for storage, workshop, office and meeting room, hardstanding for…
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New village green at One Tree Hill
We are celebrating the decision by Surrey County Council to register One Tree Hill at Long Ditton as a village green, thereby protecting it for ever. The land comprises about 10 hectares of mixed woodland, open grassland, and scrub intersected by numerous paths. About seven years ago, Elmbridge Borough Council’s consultants, Ove Arup and Partners,…
Read MoreHelp test new self-closing bridle gates
In 2011 The British Horse Society conducted a trial of commercially available self-closing bridle gates. The trial recorded a number of issues which meant that there was an impact on safety and ease of use by horse riders. This confirmed anecdotes that horses and riders were suffering injury; and many were being put off accessing…
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We help to save Mucklewick Hill, Shropshire, from disfigurement
We are delighted that Shropshire Council’s planners have rejected an application for a 15-metre-high telecommunications mast with ancillary equipment on Mucklewick Hill in the Shropshire Hills National Landscape. The hill is 15 miles south-west of Shrewsbury, and six miles north-east of Bishops Castle in south Shropshire. The society, the Shropshire Area of the Ramblers, and…
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Norfolk gets results with enforcement on public paths
We have praised Norfolk County Council for taking enforcement action on public paths in the county. Last year the council served a notice on the landowner who had illegally blocked the public footpath which runs alongside Little Hautbois Hall, the £1.8-million Tudor mansion in the parish of Buxton with Lammas. The landowner gave in and…
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Protest over Clapham Common quagmire
Clapham Common has again been left resembling a sea of mud following the latest huge music event. We are writing to Lambeth Council to protest. A vast swathe of the common has again been devastated, only a year after the same area of the common was left like a quagmire by the same Lock N…
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Buxton footpath in Norfolk open at last
We are pleased that Norfolk County Council has belatedly replaced unlawful stiles with gates on Buxton with Lamas footpath 4, three miles south east of Aylsham. The stiles were in appalling condition and difficult to negotiate, and they had not been authorised on this public path (under section 147 of the Highways Act 1980)(1). The…
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Charlton Common inquiry adjourned
The public inquiry into a new access-road across Charlton Common in South Gloucestershire opened yesterday (9 April) and was immediately adjourned. The room at the BAWA Club, Filton, was overflowing with objectors from Southmead, Brentry and Henbury, who had not been consulted about the plans and who were angry at what was proposed. The inspector,…
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Norfolk outdoor activists slam county council’s failure to maintain public paths
Outdoor activists in Norfolk are angry that Norfolk County Council trumpets that it is third out of 28 councils for ‘satisfaction with its highways and transport services’, while ignoring the fact that for the last three years Norfolk has been in the bottom three or four for ‘satisfaction with public rights of way’ and this…
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