We present award to Bishop’s Meadow Trust
Our chairman, Tim Crowther, has presented a plaque to the Bishop’s Meadow Trust, Farnham, winner of the society’s first Open Space Award in 2012. The ceremony was held in the new community orchard, created for local schoolchildren to care for and harvest. The event was combined with a children’s tree-planting and the Mayor of Farnham,…
Read More
Wycombe Council rejects Marlow polo-plans a second time
Wycombe District Council has again rejected a planning application for polo practice at Low Grounds Farm, near Marlow in Bucks. The proposed development would lead to interference with those seeking quiet recreation on the nearby Harleyford Lane. Harleyford Properties Ltd’s application was for change of use of land from agricultural use to polo practice and…
Read MoreNew Planning Practice Guidelines published
In a written statement on 6 March, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Planning, Nick Boles, announced the publication of the Coalition Government’s updated Planning Practice Guidelines. In his statement, Mr Boles refers to the government’s commitment to ensuring that countryside and environmental protections continue to be safeguarded and that power is devolved, not…
Read More
Residents save Bucks green
Congratulations to our member the Penn & Tylers Green Residents’ Society in Bucks who have won a five-year campaign to register two verges as village green and have set an excellent example to other communities. The land consists of two, wide, roadside verges leading from the Hazlemere to Penn road (the B474) into Coppice Farm…
Read More
Welsh Government’s threat to village greens
We have responded robustly to the Welsh Government’s draft Planning Bill in which it proposes to prohibit the registration of land as a town or village green where it has been identified for development. The government also plans to enable landowners to deposit statements with the registration (unitary) authority, challenging people’s use of the land…
Read MoreSaving Welsh village greens from changes in planning law
The Open Spaces Society opposes the Welsh Government’s draconian proposals in its draft Planning Bill to make it more difficult for people to register land as a town or village green. The government wants to prohibit applications where land has been identified for planning, and to enable landowners to submit declarations to the common registration…
Read More
Court ruling gives green light to developers on open spaces
‘A black ruling for greens’, is how we responded to the judgment* in the Supreme Court yesterday (5 February) which gives a green light to developers who want to build on open spaces. The court ruled that village greens at Curtis Fields at Weymouth in Dorset and Clayton Fields at Kirklees, West Yorkshire, must be…
Read MoreIndustrial development on South Wales common
We have slated plans by the Heads of the Valley Development Company Ltd to develop common land at Rassau, Blaenau Gwent, ahead of the prospective Circuit of Wales motor-racing development. The company has applied to the Welsh ministers for consent to carry out major works on the common. If the Circuit of Wales development is…
Read More
We fight commercial use of public open space in Dulwich
We have opposed a planning application for a commercial children’s day-nursery on Dulwich sports ground at Turney Road in Southwark. The application has been made by Southwark Community Sports Trust to provide revenue for the trust to maintain the sports ground. There are many local objectors including the Friends of Belair Park. We consider that…
Read More
Planning inspector refuses consent for solar farm in rural Somerset
A planning inspector has refused consent for a solar farm at Doulting, east of Shepton Mallet, in the heart of rural Somerset. Mendip District Council refused permission in January 2013 but the applicant, AEE Renewables, appealed to the Planning Inspectorate. The decision by inspector Karen Ridge LLB was published on 19 December. The application was…
Read More