Latest News

New protection for common land in Wales

April 24, 2012

We welcome the new measures brought into force in Wales on 1 April. These will give better protection to all registered common land—more than eight per cent of the land area of Wales. Welsh ministers have enacted part 3 of the Commons Act 2006, which sets out the process for obtaining consent from the Minister…

Read More

Keep the Kinder torch aflame

April 24, 2012

‘We must keep the Kinder trespassers’ torch aflame,’ declared Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, speaking at the launch of the 80th anniversary celebrations of the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass, in Edale on Tuesday 24 April. ‘We cannot be complacent, we cannot treat Kinder as mere history. The threats which the trespassers…

Read More

Unlawful track on Gloucestershire common

April 20, 2012

We have urged Gloucestershire County Council and Tewkesbury Borough Council to take legal action against a track which has been constructed on common land. The track is on Brockeridge Common, near Twyning, Tewkesbury. The landowner, Mr Ewan Reynolds, was refused planning permission but has built the track anyway, and the borough council has issued a…

Read More

Wind-factory threat to Bowland beauty-spot

April 19, 2012

Community Windpower is trying for a third time to build wind turbines on an exposed hillside in the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Lancashire. Part of the site, Claughton and Whit Moors between Caton and Hornby, is registered common land. The company is preparing to submit a third planning application to…

Read More

New golfing-plans on Walton Heath Common

April 19, 2012

We have objected to plans by Walton Heath Golf Club to use part of Walton Heath Common, in Surrey, as a ‘golf-practice facility’. The golf club has submitted a planning application to Reigate and Banstead Borough Council. The land is registered common land and the public has the right to walk and ride here. We…

Read More

Four-mile fence on Brecon Beacons common land

April 5, 2012

We have objected to an application from the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority to retain a four-mile fence across open country in the heart of the national park. The fence was erected on common land as an emergency measure during the foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001 and it should have been removed by 2006. When the…

Read More

Red-tape review could threaten common land

March 19, 2012

We are concerned that plans to simplify the law of common land could put commons at risk of hostile development.  The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published its plans to cut red tape for environmental regulations.  These include extending the range of works on common land to be exempted from the consent…

Read More

West Yorkshire green space saved in appeal court

March 8, 2012

We are delighted that the Court of Appeal today overturned a High Court judgment, so that Clayton Fields at Birkby, Huddersfield, will now be registered as a village green. The 6.5 acres of sloping, partly-wooded, green space was first registered as a green in 1997, under the Commons Registration Act 1965.  The registration was overturned…

Read More

Court of Appeal judgment threatens village greens

March 7, 2012

We are disappointed that the Court of Appeal today upheld a decision of the High Court (23 November 2010) on Markham and Little Francis village green at Weymouth in Dorset. Read the judgment here. The judges determined that the land was wrongly registered as a green.  It will be removed from the register, leaving it…

Read More

Anne Wilks, 1918-2012

March 6, 2012

We are sad to report that our vice-president Anne Wilks has died aged 93. Anne lived for most of her life in Kent and was a tireless campaigner for commons, greens and public paths. She moved to Kent in 1924 and lived in Seasalter, Whitstable and finally Gravesend. Anne claimed countless paths for the official…

Read More