We back call for truly coastal access at Lee Abbey beauty-spot
The society is backing the Ramblers, the Exmoor Society and the Exmoor Local Access Forum in calling on Natural England (NE) to create a truly coastal path on the north Devon coast at Lee Abbey, a mile and a half west of Lynton. The Exmoor National Park Authority also wants NE to re-examine the proposed…
Read MoreVillage green successes
We are delighted to announce the recent registration of three new town/village greens following successful campaigns by members of the society: After a two-year battle by Chris Faulkner-Gibson, on behalf of Colston Estate Community Association (CECA), to save land at Colston’s Field, Frome Valley, Bristol, it was registered as a town/village green in July 2017.…
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We welcome Kent County Council’s plan for country parks
We have welcomed Kent County Council’s new plan for its country parks* but have warned that the council must take care, in making them financially self-sustaining, not to allow unsuitable commercial activities there. The consultation on the Kent Country Parks strategy 2017-2021 is open until Monday 11 September. (You can respond here.) We are pleased…
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Walkers’ groups fight plan to close valuable town-centre path in High Wycombe
The Open Spaces Society and the Buckinghamshire Ramblers have opposed a plan by Wycombe District Council to close part of a valuable footpath in High Wycombe’s town centre. The council wants to impose a Public Spaces Protection Order(1) (PSPO) on the path, which would close it to public use. It claims that the path is…
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London Council in ‘unprecedented’ move to exploit open space
A London Council has made an ‘unprecedented’ move to make money out of holding events on a flagship open space. Lambeth Council’s planning committee on Tuesday evening (4 July) gave blanket approval to a 110-day schedule of music festivals and other events on the 35-hectare half of Clapham Common it owns. The Town and Country…
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We urge caution on proposed law changes for parks
We have condemned government proposals to legislate to prevent local authorities charging ‘Parkrun’ and ‘Junior Parkrun’. We were responding to the Department for Communities and Local Government’s (DCLG) consultation ‘Running free’, on preserving the free use of public parks. The society believes this issue of charging must not be taken in isolation as it will…
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Lambeth Council’s plan threatens Clapham Common
Lambeth Council is proposing to give itself unprecedented powers to intensify and institutionalise the commercial exploitation of a flagship open space. By giving blanket approval for music festivals and other events to be held on the 35-hectare half of Clapham Common it owns, Lambeth Council will be driving a coach and horses through legislation, designed…
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A commons’ conference companion
The Countryside and Community Research Institute of Gloucester University (CCRI) has published a Commons e-book which is a compilation of blogs written at or about the biennial global conferences of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC). You can download it here. The book is written by John Powell and Chris Short…
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Post Brexit: we want more access and better landscapes
‘We must make sure post-Brexit agricultural payments are used to improve public access and the landscape, so that places like the South Downs National Park will benefit.’ So said our general secretary Kate Ashbrook at the rally to celebrate the seventh anniversary of the South Downs National Park, in Midhurst, West Sussex on Saturday 15…
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We deplore further erosion of green-space protection
The government has struck a further blow to open spaces. We are dismayed that it has introduced additional measures which restrict the ability of local people to register land as a town or village green. The Housing and Planning Act 2016 contains new ‘trigger events’ which prevent the registration of land as town or village…
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