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Support our legal-action appeal this autumn Help us fight for the open spaces and paths we all love Save the open spaces you love. Support us! Find out what’s happening in your area Our campaigning works!See for yourself. Need help? Find your local Open Spaces volunteer or local authority contact details below Expand the map…
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We win path improvements in Herefordshire
We are delighted that our local correspondent in Herefordshire, David Howerski, has won some valuable improvements to public paths. He has reported over 250 rights-of-way defects in the county since January 2025. In addition to reporting problems to the county council, Dave writes to the parish councils asking for their help and influence with local…
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We celebrate our Herefordshire volunteer’s law degree
Our local correspondent for south Herefordshire, Dave Howerski, has obtained a law degree from the Open University. Dave was inspired to study for this through his voluntary work for the society, campaigning for public paths, threatening legal action, and persuading Herefordshire Council to carry out its statutory duty to protect and maintain them. Dave, who…
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East Sussex steps up to replace missing signposts
We are pleased that East Sussex County Council has responded to pressure from path campaigners and has replaced missing signposts on many public paths in the county. Our local correspondents and other members reported missing signposts early in 2018, as part of the campaign to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Countryside Act 1968 which…
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Firle Estate – tax free and for what?
The Firle Estate, near Lewes in East Sussex contains some of the most iconic walking landscape in the country, including the Firle Beacon stretch of the South Downs Way. So it might not surprise you to learn that the Estate has obtained exemption from inheritance tax (2) on nearly all the estate (3) in return…
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Goodbye to blocked byway in East Sussex
Following pressure from Chris Smith, our local correspondent for Lewes district in East Sussex, the Firle Estate has reopened a blocked byway. This is an old, two-kilometre-long route, shown on some eighteenth-century maps. It runs between Newelm, west of Firle, westwards to the A26 road at The Lay in Beddingham parish. It was probably first…
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We celebrate addition of restricted byway to Norfolk’s path-map
We are delighted that our Norfolk local correspondent, Ian Witham, has succeeded in his application to upgrade a public footpath at Mundesley to a restricted byway, with rights for cyclists, horse-riders and carriage-drivers, in addition to walkers. The 60-metre path runs roughly south-west to north-east, between the C634 Cromer Road to the clifftop. The route…
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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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We save Brickhill footpath, Bedford, from closure
We are delighted to have saved Brickhill footpath 9 from closure, following a public hearing in November. We were represented by our local correspondent and veteran path-defender, Mike Clarke. The 240-metre-long path runs between Waveney Avenue in the north to Falcon Avenue in the south, across Waveney Green, Brickhill, on the north side of Bedford. …
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Herefordshire’s historic Boat Lane, near Ross-On-Wye, is now on the map
We are delighted that the ancient Boat Lane, in the parishes of Goodrich and Walford south of Ross-on-Wye, has been added to Herefordshire Council’s definitive map of public paths, after a 20-year campaign. The route was claimed in 2003 by the society’s former local correspondent for south Herefordshire, Owen Morgan. He argued that the lane…
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