Growth & Infrastructure Bill update
On Tuesday 16 April the House of Commons will debate the amendments which the Lords have made to the Growth and Infrastructure Bill. There are two which concern us—and they ought to concern MPs because they were promoted by the government at a very late stage. They could have been included in the Bill from…
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Charlton Common inquiry adjourned
The public inquiry into a new access-road across Charlton Common in South Gloucestershire opened yesterday (9 April) and was immediately adjourned. The room at the BAWA Club, Filton, was overflowing with objectors from Southmead, Brentry and Henbury, who had not been consulted about the plans and who were angry at what was proposed. The inspector,…
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Our challenge to Wales’s new environmental body
We have welcomed the new environmental body, Natural Resources Wales (NRW), which comes into existence today (1 April) and we have set it a number of challenges. The common land of Wales is immensely important for its natural beauty, wildlife habitats, archaeology, culture and opportunities for informal recreation. Eight per cent of Wales is common…
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Runnymede’s plan to build on green belt next to common
We have objected to the policy in Runnymede Borough Council’s draft local plan core strategy which would remove land from the green belt and build 1500 houses there, next to Chobham Common in Surrey. We are concerned that the proposed development adjoins Chobham Common, an important lowland heath with a multitude of designations, which reflects…
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West Beach IS a village green!
The Court of Appeal has upheld the rights of local people to access Newhaven’s sandy West Beach in its judgement handed down today. The three judges who sat at the Royal Courts of Justice in London for three days at the end of March have upheld the appeal of East Sussex County Council and Newhaven…
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Poor’s Acre Common—a new pocket park
In January 2005, at about the time the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, giving a right to roam on registered common land and mapped open country was taking effect, we had a letter from a vigilant member, Dick Denton. Dick was concerned that there were three pieces of registered common land in Great…
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Race against time for Amber Valley residents’ green spaces
Residents of Amber Valley Borough in Derbyshire face a race against time to protect their threatened open spaces. The Growth and Infrastructure Bill, currently in the House of Lords, will outlaw applications to register land as a village green once it has been identified for development. If land has been used by local people for…
Read MoreWe blast motorsports development on common land
We objected strongly to a planning application for a major motor-racing development on registered common land. The so-called Circuit of Wales would be on the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park, north of Ebbw Vale. The Heads of the Valleys Development Company wants to build a 3.5-mile long racetrack, 4×4 circuit, international kart track…
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‘Heavenly’ Carmarthenshire commons at risk from wind-development
We have objected to two applications from RES UK & Ireland Ltd for wind turbines and associated works on common land in Carmarthenshire. RES wants to erect 21 wind turbines, 15 of them on common land, with met masts, access tracks, hardstanding, highway widening and fencing. The commons are Mynydd Llanllwni Common and Mynydd Llanfighangel…
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Development is all
Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, writes of the government’s attack on the law of prescription, and on our open spaces. Four days after the first reading of the government’s Growth and Infrastructure Bill, with its pernicious attack on town and village greens, I went to Westminster Abbey to celebrate the life of our early activist…
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