Coronavirus (Covid-19) Update
We thank you for visiting our website and hope that you remain safe and well. Our office is only partially staffed at the moment, so responding to telephone calls or postal enquiries will take a little longer than usual, however you will find plenty of information and advice on this website, and we can readily…
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We help to save part of Clyne Common, Swansea
We are delighted that the Duke of Beaufort’s Somerset Trust, the owner of part of Clyne Common, south-west of Swansea, has withdrawn its application for a land swap. The trustees of the Somerset Trust applied to the Welsh environment minister, via the Planning Inspectorate, to deregister 2.7 hectares on the eastern side of the common…
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We celebrate common land registration in Cornwall
We are celebrating Cornwall Council’s addition of 4.84 hectares of Carrine and Goodern Commons to the register of common land, thus securing the public’s right to walk here and protecting the land from development. The land is on the road from Penwethers to Pound Lane, three kilometres south-west of Truro. Common is land, originally, with…
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We oppose Clapham Common fencing plan
We have objected to an application from Lambeth Borough Council for fencing on Clapham Common. The council wants to erect temporary steel fencing around the ‘events site’ on the common for three weeks, from 15 August to 5 September, with the intention of holding festivals there. Because the land is common, it must have…
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Blackbushe aerodrome – court halts removal of land from Yateley Common
We are delighted that the High Court has quashed an inspector’s decision to remove land at Blackbushe aerodrome, Hampshire, from the register of common land. Mr Justice Holgate gave judgment1 today following a judicial review brought by Hampshire County Council, the commons registration authority, against the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural…
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We secure common land at Batchworth Heath, Hertfordshire
We are celebrating Hertfordshire County Council’s addition of 1.66 hectares of Batchworth Heath, near Rickmansworth, to the common-land register thus securing the public’s right to walk and ride here and protecting the land from development. Common is land, originally, with rights of common, to graze animals or collect wood for instance, dating back to pre-mediaeval…
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Welsh government allows closure of some paths and access land
The Welsh government has introduced emergency legislation which enabled certain bodies to close identified public paths and access land because they create a risk of spreading coronavirus. The bodies had to close the paths by noon on 25 March 2020. The bodies (known as ‘relevant bodies’) entitled to do this are: county or county borough…
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Commons victory at historic Berkhamsted
We are delighted that Hertfordshire County Council has added a piece of Berkhamsted Common to the common-land register. This will protect a further part of this historic common from development. The land is 0.17 hectares to the north of Britwell Drive, near Berkhamsted Golf Club (about one kilometre north-west of Berkhamsted). The land was subject…
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Cornish common restored
Thanks to the painstaking research of our commons re-registration officer in Cornwall, Tomas Hill, we have restored six hectares to the commons register. The land is at Trevellion Moor, on the west side of Bokiddick Downs and Lowertown Moor, a kilometre west of Helman Tor and three kilometres north of Luxulyan. The land consists of…
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Commons past and present – Downley local history group event
Our commons re-registration officer Frances Kerner gave an illustrated talk on 29 February 2020 at Downley Memorial Hall entitled, Downley Common, its Origin and Survival within the Manor of West Wycombe. The hall was packed, with 92 people present. Frances’s talk traced the general history of common land, including its survival and loss. As an…
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