Gifting paths and open spaces via a society membership subscription
Do you know someone who enjoys spending time in open spaces or exploring our amazing network of paths? Would you like to buy a gift in this pandemic year that shows how much we have all come to value our outdoors, now more than ever? Would you like to make an environmentally friendly and ethical…
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Our new activist for the Isle of Wight
We have appointed Mrs Helen Slade as our local correspondent for the Isle of Wight. Helen, who lives in Ventnor, will be the society’s eyes and ears, keeping a close watch on paths, commons, greens, open spaces and the progress of the coastal path on the Island, and intervening as necessary. Helen has recently retired…
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Somerset Trust withdraws Clyne Common land-swap for second time
The Duke of Beaufort’s Somerset Trust, owner of part of Clyne Common on Gower, City and County of Swansea, has for a second time withdrawn its application for a common-land swap. Having twice objected to the proposals, we are pleased that the common appears to be saved, but are angry that the trust has wasted…
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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 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Somerset Trust, the owner of part of Clyne Common, south-west of Swansea, has reapplied for a land swap, having withdrawn a similar controversial application in April.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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We call for promotion of access at heart of future agricultural support
We have called for public access to form a core component of future agricultural support. Responding to Defra’s Environmental Land Management policy discussion document, the society says that ‘the public must be able to see, enjoy and learn from what is achieved with spending raised from their taxes.’ It has proposed that public spending on…
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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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Last chance for Forty Acres
Trudy Dean, chair of West Malling Parish Council, a member of the society, writes of the threat to a magnificent local open space. Forty Acres is a beautiful open area of gently rising farmland to the south of the A20 London Road in the Parish of East Malling and Larkfield in Kent. Confusingly running to…
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