Misdeeds and no deeds
On 28 September the Prime Minister pledged to protect an additional 400,000 hectares (1,562 square miles) of England’s countryside to support ‘the recovery of nature’. A fine promise but what does it mean? The recovery of nature is immensely important, so too is the recovery of people. The pandemic has shown the value of local…
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Registration of land at Goose Holme
We have welcomed the decision of Cumbria County Council to register land at Goose Holme, Kendal, as common land. The decision was made at the council’s development control and regulation committee on Friday 9 October, and will add about 0.45 hectares of land, much of it comprised in the bed of the River Kent, to…
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We oppose fence across historic landscape in Ceredigion
We have objected to an application from the Caron Estate for a 1,589-metre fence across Rhos Gelli Gron common, near Tregaron in Ceredigion. The estate applied for the fencing under section 38 of the Commons Act 2006. The application is determined by the Planning Inspectorate on behalf of the environment minister. The Open Spaces Society…
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We fight proposed development on Powys common
The society has objected to a planning application for a dwelling, garage, workshop, driveway and associated works on and adjacent to a common near Erwood in Powys. Mr Richard King of Skreen Cottage, Llandeilo Graban, has applied for the development with no mention of the fact that the land affected is a registered common, The Skreen,…
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Landscapes Review – what next?
Shoulder to shoulder with other influential NGO organisations including Campaign for National Parks, National Trust, Ramblers, RSPB, Youth Hostels Association, CPRE, The Wildlife Trusts and the British Mountaineering Council, and now a year since the publication of the Landscapes Review, we have written to Rt Hon George Eustice MP, Secretary of State for the Environment,…
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We fight unfair land-swap at Clyne Common
As Britain’s leading pressure-group for common land [1], we are angry that the Duke of Beaufort’s Somerset Trust, the owner of part of Clyne Common, south-west of Swansea, has reapplied for a land swap, having withdrawn a similar controversial application in April. The trustees of the Somerset Trust have applied to the Welsh environment minister,…
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Agricultural grants must be properly enforced
We have criticised as weak and ineffective the government’s proposals for monitoring and enforcing compliance with agricultural grants. In its consultation, Financial Assistance Statutory Instrument, the government proposes to monitor the use of public funds for delivering public goods as part of the new agricultural grant programme post Brexit. However, it only proposes to…
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Minister refuses to extend deadline for registering common land
We are dismayed that environment minister John Gardiner has refused to extend the deadline for re-registering lost commons beyond the end of December 2020. The society is concerned that, in seven English local authority areas1, the deadline for registering lost commons is 31 December, less than four months away. The research to uncover lost commons…
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Expanding our freedoms
The Open Spaces Society has long campaigned for responsible freedom to roam away from public paths in England and Wales. The Countryside and Rights of Way (CROW) Act 2000 went some way towards achieving this, but the rights were only for walkers and were limited to registered commons, and mapped areas of mountain, moor, heath…
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Taking people out of planning
With many other environmental charities, we have condemned the government’s proposals to speed up the planning process and reduce democratic involvement. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has published a consultation, Planning for the Future, with closing date of 29 October 2020. This proposes a total rewrite of the rules first set out…
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