We oppose plan for Baddesley Common
We have objected to the Friends of Baddesley Common’s plan to construct a pond on the common, near Atherstone in north Warwickshire. We have sent an objection to North Warwickshire District Council, because the pond will be detrimental to the existing landscape, will result in the loss of a rare habitat, and will interfere with…
Read MoreWestfield Common, Woking, threatened again
Woking Borough Council is consulting interest groups and local people on plans to swap part of Westfield Common. The intention is to provide an access road to a potential new housing development north of Moor Lane. Woking Council wanted to deregister 387 square metres of the common. It is wet woodland and a Site of…
Read MoreLocalism Bill is a muddle for open spaces
We today roundly condemn the Localism Bill, the government’s flagship measure for giving people power to run their own lives and neighbourhoods. The bill is due for second reading in the House of Commons on Monday 17 January. Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, says: ‘One of the bill’s most important aspects-the care and future of…
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Common land is key to the Welsh environment
We have responded to the Welsh Assembly Government’s consultation on A Living Wales—a new framework for our environment, our countryside and seas, by calling on it to recognise the importance of common land to the nation. Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary: ‘Common land covers over eight per cent of the land area of Wales.…
Read MoreScar on the lovely face of Bowland
We have objected to plans to build 13 wind-turbines in the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Lancashire. The application is from Community Windpower Ltd, for Claughton Moor and Whit Moor, partly common land and partly open country, seven miles north-east of Lancaster. There is a public right to walk over the…
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High Court judgment puts many greens at risk
Today Mr Justice Morgan delivered judgment in the High Court on the case of Markham and Little Francis village green at Weymouth in Dorset.(1) Read it here The judge has determined that the land should not have been registered as a green, and has directed that it be removed from the register, thus laying it…
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Chiltern common freed of fence and keep-out notices
We are delighted that Yeoman Homes has removed the ugly fencing which blocked access to the lovely Layters Green Common, near Chalfont St Peter in the Buckinghamshire Chilterns. The Open Spaces Society, with Chalfont St Peter Parish Council, called on Chiltern District Council to take enforcement action against the works which were erected on the…
Read MoreWestfield Common, Woking, saved from degradation
A public-inquiry inspector has rejected Woking Borough Council’s plans to swap part of Westfield Common at Woking in Surrey, to provide an access road to a potential new housing development. The decision from the inspector, Heidi Cruickshank, followed a public inquiry last July into the application for the exchange of common land, to which there…
Read MoreMumbles headland is under threat
The Amusement Equipment Company Ltd (AMECO) plans to develop the headland and foreshore at Mumbles, west of Swansea. We have objected to the planning application which includes apartments, a hotel and entertainment centre and involves deregistration of common land on the clifftop. Not only will this development be an intrusion on the edge of the…
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New plan for unique Odiham Common
Hart District Council has published its ten-year management plan for Odiham Common in north Hampshire. (Click to read) The plan is the result of 18 months’ work by an advisory group,(1) and a significant investment by the district council. The 284-acre common, which is owned by Hart District Council, is a site of special scientific…
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