Time for a new manifesto for public access
‘It is time for a new manifesto for public access in town and country,’ said Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary. Kate was giving the keynote speech at the event to mark the 91st anniversary of the mass trespass on Kinder Scout on 24 April 1932. The celebrations were held at Hayfield village hall, Derbyshire, at…
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Backpack camping: Dartmoor National Park Authority to appeal
We are delighted that the Dartmoor National Park Authority (DNPA) members have unanimously agreed to appeal against the high court judgment on the Dartmoor backpack camping case. The owners of Stall Moor common. Alexander and Diana Darwall, challenged the DNPA’s argument that the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985, in giving the public the right to walk…
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Café plans for Bristol Downs abandoned
We have welcomed the decision to abandon plans for a café on the downs in Bristol close to the Avon Gorge. The society criticised the Downs Committee[1] , which put forward the plans, for squandering public money on unlawful and undesirable projects. Meanwhile the committee is failing adequately to carry out its statutory responsibilities. The Downs…
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Government’s lost chance to achieve levelling up
We have lamented the government’s failure to equalise the provision of green spaces for all. Responding to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), the society sets out its priorities for government in a five-point plan. The society wants to see: 1 an improvement in the process…
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Access at the heart of land-use policy
On 4 July our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, and the Ramblers director of advocacy and engagement, Tom Platt, gave evidence to the House of Lords Land Use in England Committee. They focused on the many benefits of greater public access, its lack of a home in government, and the potential for access to be central to…
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An open letter to Cornwall Councillors from Open Spaces Society member, Hugh Gladden
Open Spaces Society member, Hugh Gladden, recently wrote to the Cornish Times, expressing his disappointment at the council’s failure in its duty to prevent paths being obstructed. You can read his letter below. Hundreds of landowners commit criminal offences, but Cornwall Council and its councillors look the other way. Under the Highways Act (1980) local…
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Autumn crisis
Our general secretary Kate Ashbrook reflects on the current attack on the environment. ‘… now it is time unequivocally to act’ wrote Louis MacNeice in Autumn Journal in 1938. And so it is in this autumn, when government has suddenly made a full-frontal onslaught on the environment, nature, and our enjoyment of them. First there…
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We rescue two lost commons in Hertfordshire
We welcome the decision of Hertfordshire County Council, the commons registration authority, to grant our applications to register as common two pieces of land about two miles south-east of Walkern near Stevenage. These commons failed to be finally registered during the three-year period allowed by the Commons Registration Act 1965. Part 1 of the Commons…
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Manifesto for the next generation
We were delighted to be invited to join the Resurgence Summit on 24 September at the Knepp estate in West Sussex. Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, reports on the day. The event was organised by Heal Rewilding, Youngwilders, and Knepp Wildland Foundation. Its aim was to enable young people to discuss public access and nature,…
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Threat to farming funds for access
We are deeply concerned to learn that the government may renege on its commitment to use agricultural payments for environmental and access improvements. The recent statement from Defra gives us little comfort. With other organisations we have, for the last six years, pushed relentlessly for agricultural funding in the Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS) to…
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