Campaign to Double the Number of School Children Enjoying our National Parks
Although over 60,000 school children visit the national parks each year, the government has long promised increases to this number. The Society, as a member of a coalition of five charities including Campaign for National Parks and with celebrity support, has now demanded urgent action to more than double the number of school children who…
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Help Celebrate The Ninth Birthday Of South Downs National Park
The Hampshire Area & South East Hants Group of the Ramblers are organising an event to celebrate the ninth anniversary of the South Downs National Park. All are welcome. The view from Butser Hill, Hampshire It is at the Queen Elizabeth Country Park Centre, near Petersfield in Hampshire (grid reference SU 719 186) on Saturday 30th March at 10.30 am. Join…
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Pledge To Protect And Preserve National Parks In Celebration Of Their Seventieth Anniversary
Seventy years after an Act of Parliament was passed creating national parks in England and Wales, five of the original campaigning organisations came together once again to pledge to protect and preserve the parks for future generations and make access for everyone easier. Campaign for National Parks, Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), the Open…
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Celebrate The 70th Anniversary Of National Parks In The Peak District
This year is the seventieth anniversary of the National Parks & Access to the Countryside Act 1949 which gave us national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty, national nature reserves, long-distance paths (national trails) and definitive maps of rights of way among other things. None of these was achieved without a great deal of lobbying,…
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Pocket Parks Plus: Great Opportunity For Open Spaces
We have welcomed the new grant scheme for establishing, restoring and renovating open spaces. Launched by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Pocket Parks Plus provides match funding to communities who want to create small spaces for local people to enjoy. Applications must be made by 25 January 2019. The land can be any size up…
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Our Appointment To The National Trust Council
The National Trust has resolved that the society should continue to have an appointee on its council. Beverley Penney served for nine years, and did a great job for us, but now her term has expired. The society has appointed its former chairman, Graham Bathe, in her place. Graham (right), who lives on the edge…
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We Fight Military’s Path-Closure Plan On Dartmoor
We have objected to a proposal by the Ministry of Defence to close the public footpath through Okehampton Camp on the northern side of the Dartmoor National Park. The society argues that this will be a blow to the public who will lose a direct footpath between Okehampton and the moor and be forced to…
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New Developments Must Provide Open Space
We have called for new developments to be designed to include protected open space for recreation. We were responding to the consultation on Net Gain from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Picnic on Nutsford Vale, Manchester The society argues that such open spaces should have long-term protection, and that they should be…
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25-Year Environment Plan Evasive About People’s Enjoyment Of The Outdoors
We have criticised the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for being vague about how it will measure its success in encouraging people to benefit from the natural environment. The society has responded to Defra’s consultation on measuring environmental change through its 25-year environment plan which was published in January 2018. In the…
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Seventieth Anniversary Of ‘A People’s Charter’
This year we celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. Our general secretary Kate Ashbrook, explains what it achieved. This is not just a Bill. It is a people’s charter—a people’s charter for the open air, for the hikers and the ramblers, for everyone who lives to…
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