Government’s new planning policies give green spaces the cold shoulder
We have expressed our fears for the future of open spaces in the government’s revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) published today (12 December 2024). Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary: ‘We called for legal protection and long-term maintenance of urban green space; standards for the amount of green space in development, and a duty on…
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Green-space neglect in government’s new policies
We are deeply concerned at the direction taken by the government’s revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Our case officer Nicola Hodgson has responded to the consultation on the revised policy. You can read Nicola’s full response here. ‘The government has not proposed any significant changes to the NPPF to support the creation and protection…
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Green-space gap in new planning policies
‘The planning system should give the creation and protection of green space and public paths the same priority as other infrastructure. Sadly, this is not reflected in the proposed revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).’ So declared Nicola Hodgson, one of our case officers. ‘This would have been a good opportunity to put green spaces,…
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Land at Nesfield, North Yorkshire, restored as common
We have welcomed the Planning Inspectorate’s decision to grant the society’s application to register as common approximately one third of a hectare of land in the village of Nesfield in North Yorkshire (just over two miles north-west of Ilkley). The land comprises two pieces of grassland separated by a path which leads from Gill Lane…
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We help to save Sneedhams Green common, Gloucestershire, from encroachment
We welcome an inspector’s decision to refuse commons consent for works on Sneedhams Green in Gloucestershire. Black Box Planning Ltd, on behalf of the G W Hughes Will Trust, had applied to the Planning Inspectorate for approval to construct access ways across the common, which is south of Matson and close to the M5. The…
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Waterstock industrial development rejected
We are delighted that South Oxfordshire District Council has refused an application from Greystoke CB Ltd to build a science park at Waterstock golf course, about seven kilometres west of Thame. Our general secretary joined two walks in protest at the development and, when the application was published, we objected, in support of local members. …
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Planning for commons in the north
Open Spaces Society case officer Hugh Craddock and Friends of the Lake District planning officer Lorayne Wall MRTPI, on 7 June addressed members of the Royal Town Planning Institute on planning for commons. At the Institute’s rural update for north of England, members heard about ‘Planning and Common Land’, raising awareness of how and why…
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We condemn skyline development at Swansea beauty-spot
We have made a strong objection to plans to desecrate Kilvey Hill, east of Swansea. We have submitted our objection to Asbri Planning, acting for Swansea Skyline Ltd, which proposes to develop the hill and surrounding area with a leisure development. This comprises, among other infrastructure, gondola stations, a multi-purpose visitor building, luge tracks, chairlift,…
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Inspector kicks out plan for football pitches on London common land
With local residents we have scored a big win for public open space by defeating controversial plans for a commercial football facility on common land. Following a seven-day public inquiry, a government-appointed planning inspector has kicked out proposed fenced and floodlit football-pitches in a tranquil and secluded part of Tooting Bec Common, known as the…
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Autumn crisis
Our general secretary Kate Ashbrook reflects on the current attack on the environment. ‘… now it is time unequivocally to act’ wrote Louis MacNeice in Autumn Journal in 1938. And so it is in this autumn, when government has suddenly made a full-frontal onslaught on the environment, nature, and our enjoyment of them. First there…
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