Welsh minister rejects wind turbine on common
The Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing has refused consent to Awel Aman Tawe to erect a wind turbine, hard standing and access tracks on common land in south Wales. The threatened common is Cefn Gwrhyd Common in the community of Cwmllynfell in Neath Port Talbot. Although Awel Aman Tawe had obtained planning consent for…
Read MoreOutdoor enthusiasts speak up for forest access
Nine organisations, representing a broad range of people who care about and enjoy the great outdoors, have today (10 May) issued a statement to the chair of the Independent Panel on Forestry, Bishop of Liverpool James Jones, expressing their concerns and hopes for the future of public access to all our forests and woodland. The…
Read MoreOne quarter of new Assembly Members support our action plan for Wales
Fifteen of the 60 members of the National Assembly for Wales have supported, wholly or largely, the Open Spaces Society’s 12-point Action Plan for Wales. We sent the plan, through our members in Wales and from our headquarters, to all the candidates in the recent election, asking for their backing. The 15 Assembly Members are:…
Read MoreOpen Spaces Society fights development on Ellonby Common
The Open Spaces Society, Britain’s leading pressure-group for common land, has objected to a planning appeal which would damage Ellonby Common, in the parish of Skelton five miles north-west of Penrith in Cumbria. The application for a dwelling next to the common with a driveway across it was rejected by Eden District Council last September,…
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New Hampshire trail commemorates path worker
On Saturday 23 April Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary, paid tribute to Brenda Parker, who did so much for walkers in Hampshire. Kate cut the ribbon to open the Brenda Parker Way, a 78-mile long-distance path through north Hampshire between Andover and Aldershot. The route has been devised, created and waymarked by the Ramblers, Hampshire…
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Our blueprint for green-space law
We have made a bid to save unconsidered scraps and patches of land from development and neglect. Responding to the government’s proposal for ‘a new designation to protect green areas of particular importance to local communities’(1) the society points out that these are likely to be small and often not very green─but of great value…
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Public inquiry opens into plan to enclose chiltern common
On 19 April a public inquiry opens into plans by the Nettlebed and District Commons Conservators to erect more than two kilometres of fencing around the lovely Kingwood Common in the Oxfordshire Chilterns. We are among the objectors. The society has objected on three counts. 1. We believe that the law does not allow Kingwood…
Read MoreBristol to consult on process for new greens
Bristol City Council’s Public Rights of Way and Greens Committee, on 18 April, deferred a decision on a new process for determining applications to register land as a town or village greens and agreed instead to conduct a public consultation. We had objected to the council’s proposal to refer applications to a council subcommittee, advised…
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Kington Footpath Scheme celebrates twentieth birthday
The Kington Footpath Scheme, which has led to the reopening and refurbishment of countless public paths in 16 parishes in north west Herefordshire, this year celebrates its twentieth anniversary. Peter Newman, a trustee of the society and our local correspondent for north-west Herefordshire, invented the scheme and has led it for the past 20 years. …
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Valuable highway under threat of alley-gating
The Open Spaces Society has objected to a draft alley-gating order, made by Windsor & Maidenhead Council, which would close a valuable footpath between Culley Way and Farmers Close in Cox Green. The council’s Alley Gating Panel considered that the path should be gated because of alleged crime and anti-social behaviour in the area, despite…
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