Keep the Kinder torch aflame
‘We must keep the Kinder trespassers’ torch aflame,’ declared Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, speaking at the launch of the 80th anniversary celebrations of the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass, in Edale on Tuesday 24 April. ‘We cannot be complacent, we cannot treat Kinder as mere history. The threats which the trespassers…
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Kinder 80 – celebrating the trespass
The Open Spaces Society will be celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass which took place on 24 April 1932. Our general secretary Kate Ashbrook is speaking at the launch event on Tuesday 24 April and the society has contributed to the programme. Says Kate: ‘There is nothing like the right to…
Read MoreNew golfing-plans on Walton Heath Common
We have objected to plans by Walton Heath Golf Club to use part of Walton Heath Common, in Surrey, as a ‘golf-practice facility’. The golf club has submitted a planning application to Reigate and Banstead Borough Council. The land is registered common land and the public has the right to walk and ride here. We…
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Milestone court-ruling: cattle-grids on public paths
We are delighted with the successful outcome to Alan Kind’s appeal to the High Court, to clarify whether or not a council can lawfully authorise a cattle-grid across the full width of a footpath or bridleway. This decision will provide additional protection for our public paths and better safety for the people using them. Capheaton…
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South Downs National Park anniversary celebrated
‘The South Downs National Park was achieved by a mixture of vision and persistence.’ So said Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, Britain’s oldest national conservation body, at a rally organised on 1 April by the Hampshire and Sussex Ramblers at Queen Elizabeth Country Park, Petersfield. The event was to mark the…
Read MoreKendal village green threatened by golfing development
We have renewed our call to South Lakeland District Council to reject the planning application from Kendal Golf Club for a covered driving-range on Kendal’s extensive village green in Cumbria. The green is on the side of Kendal Fell, which lies above the town to the north-west. For more than two centuries the land has…
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Dismay that Newhaven beach is not a green
We are dismayed by the High Court judgment that West Beach at Newhaven in East Sussex is not a village green. Mr Justice Ouseley ruled (21 March) that the land did not qualify as a green because its use by local people for informal recreation was incompatible with its statutory use as a port by…
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Tony Drake, path protector, 1923-2012
We are sad to report that our long-standing member Tony Drake has died aged 89. Tony was a walker and mountaineer; for decades he campaigned for public paths, especially in his home county of Gloucestershire and in Wales. Tony was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, the only child of Leslie and Gladys Drake. He inherited the…
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Red-tape review could threaten common land
We are concerned that plans to simplify the law of common land could put commons at risk of hostile development. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published its plans to cut red tape for environmental regulations. These include extending the range of works on common land to be exempted from the consent…
Read MoreDavid and Goliath battle for Harefield green
Next week is a further milestone in the campaign to save Harefield’s Medi Parc site as a green space for local people. On Tuesday (20 March) the public inquiry opens into the application by the Harefield Tenants’ and Residents’ Association to register the land as a village green. Harefield is a village on the western…
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