Polo plans rejected because of danger to byway
Wycombe District Council has rejected a planning application for polo practice at Low Grounds Farm, near Marlow in Bucks, because it would interfere with walkers, riders and cyclists using Harleyford Lane. The application was for change of use of land from agricultural use to polo practice and would have resulted in heavy use of Harleyford…
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We calls for protection for paths, commons and greens when land is sold
We have called for public paths, common land and town and village greens to be protected when land is sold. We want questions about the existence of these features on a property to be compulsory, so that a prospective purchaser knows about them before he or she buys the land. At present these questions are…
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Section 56 and all that …………
Alan Lyne, our local correspondent for Carlisle City, tells of his success in getting rights of way opened with the threat of a notice under section 56 of the Highways Act 1980. Trawling back through the Redspearlands Footpaths Group’s archives, Alan came across the papers from a meeting of the Cumbria County Council Development Control…
Read MoreFight to save Cornish rail-crossing
We have joined the campaign to save the Mexico Inn rail crossing, at Long Rock near Penzance in Cornwall, from closure. The pedestrian crossing provides an important short-cut for walkers. If it is closed the alternative route is nearly a kilometre long. Cornwall Council and Network Rail want to close the crossing on alleged safety…
Read MoreWe join fight to save Reigate’s special countryside
We have objected strongly to the proposal in Reigate & Banstead Borough Council’s core strategy to demote the special landscape designation of green belt on the west side of Reigate in Surrey. The society, with many other objectors such as Save Reigate’s Green Belt, opposes the plan to redesignate as Sustainable Urban Extension the area…
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Two new volunteers for the society
We have appointed two new local correspondents: Brian Cowling for Bedford Borough, and Chris Smith for Lewes District in East Sussex and Brighton & Hove City. Brian worked as a rights-of-way officer for Bedfordshire County Council and then Bedford Borough Council when it became a unitary authority. He enjoys walking, backpacking in the UK, reading,…
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Delight at rejection of horse complex in Chiltern valley
We are delighted that Wycombe District Council has refused an application for a private equestrian-development in the lovely Skirmett valley, in the heart of the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Buckinghamshire. The plan was to demolish the buildings at Stud Farm (now pointlessly renamed Valentine Farm) and replace them with an equestrian complex…
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New ammunition for fighting landowners’ path-diversions
Ever since we received a favourable opinion from George Laurence QC on the interpretation of ‘expedient’ in section 119 of the Highways Act 1980 (the section which deals with the diversion of public paths), the Ramblers and ourselves have been looking for a suitable case on which to test this. The case emerged when the…
Read MoreAmmunition for fighting landowners’ path-diversions
A recent high court judgment spells out some of the arguments we can use in fighting plans to divert paths which are generated by landowners. Read more about it here.
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Call for open space champions
We have launched our 2013 Open Space Award and are calling for nominations for open space champions. We want to encourage nominations for projects which support our aims to protect, increase, enhance and champion common land, town and village greens, open spaces and public rights of way in England and Wales, and the public’s right…
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