Rejection of fencing on Westerdale Common
We are delighted that the environment secretary has rejected plans for more than half a mile of fencing on Westerdale Common in the North York Moors National Park. Last year the Graziers of High Blakey Moor applied to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, via the Planning Inspectorate, for consent to…
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New Sheffield environmental charity launched
‘Sheffield and the Peak District National Park are the crucible of the access crusade. The new Sheffield Environmental Movement is well placed to enable everyone to enjoy the park’s special qualities today’. So said Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary, when she launched the new charity, the Sheffield Environmental Movement, led by Maxwell Ayamba, at Sheffield…
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Learning to find our way
The society has established the Find Our Way fund, to support those who are investigating unrecorded historic ways with a view to applying for them to be added to the definitive maps of public rights of way. This work is now urgent, as applications must be made before 1 January 2026 or the routes could…
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Battersea Park rescued from permanent motor-race circuit
We are delighted that the Formula E motor-race championship, which was approved by Wandsworth Council and set to continue every year in Battersea Park, will now only take place in 2016 with full reinstatement afterwards. James Jackson, whose judicial review of Wandsworth’s decision was due to be heard in court this week, has reached an…
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Commons in a ‘glocal’ world
This was the title of the conference which our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, attended in Bern, Switzerland, in May. It was organised by the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) and Bern University, to discuss commons at a European level. Kate tells the story. We should start with some definitions. ‘Glocal’ means…
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Help save Battersea Park from damaging motor-race
The Battersea Park Action Group is striving to save Battersea Park from three weeks of closure this summer for the Formula E car-racing series, with its associated noise and damage to this peaceful, Victorian, grade II*-listed park. The campaigners are seeking pledges for funding to support their legal challenge against Wandsworth Council which has granted…
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Park sharks
Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, considers how commercial exploitation is threatening our parks and green spaces. As I walked through Battersea Park in the February sunshine I found it hard to imagine what it would be like here in July. Then the quiet roads around the park will be converted into a motor-race track for the international…
Read MoreLocal councils need to be proactive in saving their open spaces
We have called on town and parish councils in Hampshire to be proactive in saving and supporting their local open spaces in these times of austerity. Nicola Hodgson, our society’s case officer, was speaking at the annual conference of the Hampshire Association of Local Councils on the vital topic of saving and supporting open spaces.…
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150th anniversary of Berkhamsted Common battle
On Sunday (6 March) with the National Trust we celebrated the 150th anniversary of the night raid to free Berkhamsted Common. On 6 March 1866, the year after its foundation, the Open Spaces Society organised a trainload of brawny navvies to pull down Lord Brownlow’s illegal iron fences and reopen the common to the people.…
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Battersea Park condemned to become motor racetrack for Formula E
We are dismayed that Wandsworth Council has granted planning permission for the construction of a ‘temporary’ motor-racing circuit, fencing, safety barriers and numerous other structures related to hospitality and broadcasting, for the proposed Formula E championship in July. The event was staged for the first time last year. The society, Save Battersea Park, the London…
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