Waterstock industrial development rejected
We are delighted that South Oxfordshire District Council has refused an application from Greystoke CB Ltd to build a science park at Waterstock golf course, about seven kilometres west of Thame. Our general secretary joined two walks in protest at the development and, when the application was published, we objected, in support of local members. …
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Coffey kowtows to landowners and destroys public-path consensus
We are dismayed that the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has destroyed the 2010 consensus for the future of public paths. This consensus was forged by a stakeholder working group (SWG) set up to advise government. It is composed of experienced members reflecting the interests of users, local authorities, and landowners. Dr Coffey has cherry-picked from…
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Toughening up
Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, writes of the need to get tough in these times of austerity. In September I spoke to the Gower Society, as part of its 75th anniversary celebrations. The society played an important role in securing Gower as the first area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB) in 1956. And on its…
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Amenity groups deplore destruction of New Road Common, Kendal
The Open Spaces Society and Friends of the Lake District have deplored the decision of a planning inspector to allow flood-defence works on New Road Common in the heart of Kendal in Cumbria (now Westmorland and Furness). The application, made by the Environment Agency, followed hard on the heels of a damaging application for neighbouring…
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Waymarking project for Maidenhead Millennium Walk
During August this year our member, the Maidenhead Civic Society (MCS), and the East Berkshire Group of the Ramblers (EBRA) have been hard at work waymarking the eight-mile Hurley to Maidenhead Millennium Walk. The route is between Hurley and Maidenhead Riverside, connecting at each end with the Thames Path National Trail, and was devised by…
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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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Oxfordshire parish reopened
‘Three and a half years of negotiation, and finally legal pressure on Oxfordshire County Council and on landowners, have reopened several kilometres of long-blocked public paths in the parish of Tetsworth, south Oxfordshire’, says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary. Kate adds: ‘Most people whizz past Tetsworth on the M40 in seconds, never noticing the spacious…
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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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We slate government for lack of action on public access
‘The Open Spaces Society is often critical of the government’s approach to open access opportunities.’ So said our chairman, Phil Wadey, in his keynote speech our AGM on 6 July. He continued: ‘Back in January, the government announced an environmental improvement plan for England which aspired to having every household no more than “a 15-minutes’…
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