Coffey kowtows to landowners and destroys public-path consensus
We are dismayed that the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has destroyed the 2010 consensus for the future of public paths. This consensus was forged by a stakeholder working group (SWG) set up to advise government. It is composed of experienced members reflecting the interests of users, local authorities, and landowners. Dr Coffey has cherry-picked from…
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Oxfordshire parish reopened
‘Three and a half years of negotiation, and finally legal pressure on Oxfordshire County Council and on landowners, have reopened several kilometres of long-blocked public paths in the parish of Tetsworth, south Oxfordshire’, says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary. Kate adds: ‘Most people whizz past Tetsworth on the M40 in seconds, never noticing the spacious…
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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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Time for a new manifesto for public access
‘It is time for a new manifesto for public access in town and country,’ said Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary. Kate was giving the keynote speech at the event to mark the 91st anniversary of the mass trespass on Kinder Scout on 24 April 1932. The celebrations were held at Hayfield village hall, Derbyshire, at…
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Our new activist in Gloucestershire
We have appointed Chas Townley as our local correspondent for Stroud District in Gloucestershire. Chas lives in Stroud and is a retired social-housing manager and former Stroud District and Town councillor. He has been working on the registration of unrecorded rights of ways in Stroud and surrounding parishes. As a result, 27 applications have been…
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Threat to farming funds for access
We are deeply concerned to learn that the government may renege on its commitment to use agricultural payments for environmental and access improvements. The recent statement from Defra gives us little comfort. With other organisations we have, for the last six years, pushed relentlessly for agricultural funding in the Environmental Land Management Schemes (ELMS) to…
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Hertfordshire paths-champion wins our prestigious Eversley Award
Mr Chris Beney of Bushey in Hertfordshire is the second-ever winner of the Open Spaces Society’s rarely-presented Eversley Award for Outstanding Personal Endeavour. The award is named after Lord Eversley, the distinguished founder of the society in 1865, and for many years its president and chairman. It is presented occasionally by the trustees to people…
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Thomas Hardy paths reopened
Our member Tony Fincham has achieved success in a long campaign to get two obstructed paths reopened at Stinsford, a mile east of Dorchester in Dorset. Tony is a vice-president of the Thomas Hardy Society and regularly leads walks for the society in the vicinity of Hardy’s home at Stinsford. He has found two paths…
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Herefordshire’s historic Boat Lane, near Ross-On-Wye, is now on the map
We are delighted that the ancient Boat Lane, in the parishes of Goodrich and Walford south of Ross-on-Wye, has been added to Herefordshire Council’s definitive map of public paths, after a 20-year campaign. The route was claimed in 2003 by the society’s former local correspondent for south Herefordshire, Owen Morgan. He argued that the lane…
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