Mixed news from Defra
Yesterday’s announcement of the spending review 2015’s effect on the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs contained mixed news. The good news is that the funding for national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty and public forests is protected. National parks ‘will be given legal flexibilities to allow them to build sustainable, long-term revenue…
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Gigantic wind-turbines rejected on Lake District boundary
South Lakeland District Council has rejected plans for a giant wind-farm on common land at Kirkby Moor, Cumbria, on the edge of the Lake District National Park. The council’s planning committee refused, by nine votes to two, the application from the energy company RWE Innogy UK Ltd. This was to replace twelve wind turbines with…
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Campaigner Kate wins ‘Outdoor Personality of the Year’ award
Our general secretary Kate Ashbrook has won The Great Outdoors magazine’s Outdoor Personality of the Year award, topping a shortlist of 11 which included mountaineers Sir Chris Bonington and Alan Hinkes, and fellrunner Jos Naylor. Kate was nominated as ‘a knowledgeable and fearless campaigner for our rights in the great outdoors’. Kate is also president…
Read MoreWe fight fencing on national park common
We have objected to an application to erect more than half a mile of fencing on Westerdale Common in the North York Moors National Park. The Graziers of High Blakey Moor have applied to the Planning Inspectorate for consent for the fence on common land to prevent sheep straying. The fence is on open country…
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Circuit of Wales racetrack to drive through common land
The Welsh Government’s Deputy Minister for Farming and Food, Rebecca Evans, has approved the deregistration and exchange of a square mile of common land, to enable the Circuit of Wales mega-motorsport development to be built on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park in south Wales. The application from the Heads of the Valleys…
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Multi million pound Firle footpath ploughed up again
Yet again, the Firle Estate has ploughed up a path for which it gets a huge subsidy to keep open. The path, which runs south from the Barley Mow Pub at Selmeston, is one of the reasons that the Firle estate gets millions of pounds worth of Inheritance Tax relief. Until the Open Spaces Society…
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Castle Acre Green, Swansea, becomes a new village green
We are delighted that 2.9 acres of green space and woodland known as Castle Acre Green, Norton, in the village of Mumbles near Swansea, has been registered as a village green by the commons registration authority of the City of Swansea. This means that local people have established their legal right to continue to use…
Read MoreDismay at decision for Beverley Westwood Common
We are dismayed that the environment secretary has approved a land swap to allow a cycle track and footway to be driven across the historic Beverley Westwood Common in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The society was among the objectors at a public hearing held on 13 October. East Riding of Yorkshire Council proposed to…
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Lakes and Dales park extensions will protect precious landscapes
We are overjoyed that the government has today announced that it will extend the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, to include land which should never have been excluded, much of it common land. The environment secretary Liz Truss has confirmed the designations made by Natural England in 2012, following a public inquiry in…
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We mourn the death of Michael Meacher
We are sad to learn of the death of Michael Meacher, the veteran MP for Oldham West and Royton. Michael helped to win the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, giving the public greater freedom to roam on open country and common land in England and Wales. Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary who…
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