Land saved for the community in Weston, Bath
The residents of Weston, Bath, and the Open Spaces Society are delighted that four hectares known as ‘The Field Behind Purlewent Drive’ in Weston have been registered as a village green. This means that local people have the right to enjoy the land for informal recreation and it is protected from development. Local people initiated…
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Section 56 and all that …………
Alan Lyne, our local correspondent for Carlisle City, tells of his success in getting rights of way opened with the threat of a notice under section 56 of the Highways Act 1980. Trawling back through the Redspearlands Footpaths Group’s archives, Alan came across the papers from a meeting of the Cumbria County Council Development Control…
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We slate Bristol’s lack of traffic management which threatens the downs
We have slated Bristol City Council’s lack of traffic management which is threatening the city’s green spaces. This follows last week’s Development Control Committee decision to allow Bristol Zoo to park on the Downs for a further three years. Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary, said: ‘Yet again Bristol’s councillors have failed to take action to…
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We announce winners of 2013 Open Space Award
We were delighted to announce the winners of our prestigious, national Open Space Award for 2013 at the society’s AGM in Birmingham on Tuesday (16 July). The winning entry was from the Grange Area Trust for its campaign to save Widmer Fields at Widmer End and Hazlemere in Bucks. The fields have been threatened many…
Read MoreCommon-land issues make future of ‘Circuit of Wales’ uncertain
The Circuit of Wales plan still has a long way to go before it can proceed, because of the need to sort out common-land issues. The application, from the Heads of the Valleys Development Company, for a motor-racing centre was approved by Blaenau Gwent council yesterday (10 July). As a number of objectors pointed out,…
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Call for better protection of our unique common land
We are calling for better protection for the unique common land of England and Wales. Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, spoke at a conference held at Newcastle University, Sustaining the Commons, on 5 July. Said Kate: ‘While the term”‘common” is understood internationally to mean “shared resource”—whether land, sea, the air or even information—here in…
Read MoreWe join fight against yet another Somerset solar-farm
We have objected to a planning application for a massive solar-installation close to Frome in the Somerset countryside. This follows our objections to similar schemes at Doulting and Kilmersdon, Somerset, earlier this year. We don’t object to all such developments but we do so when they adversely affect public access to, and enjoyment of, an…
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Appeal Court rules that village-greens law complies with human-rights law
We are pleased that the Court of Appeal has confirmed that the law for registering land as a town or village green complies with human rights legislation. The test case concerned land at West Beach, Newhaven, in East Sussex, where Newhaven Town Council has fought two legal challenges to its application to register the land…
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Ministers will shoot themselves in the feet if they slash England’s coastal access
Ministers will be shooting themselves in the feet if they slash the England coast path and its adjoining access-land when they announce government spending cuts tomorrow (26 June). The society was reacting to comments made by the environment minister, Richard Benyon, at the Royal Cornwall Show and reported in Farmers’ Weekly (14 June), that government…
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OSS wins Elinor Ostrom Award
We have won a prestigious international award for our work on common land. Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, received the first-ever Elinor Ostrom Award at a global conference in Japan last week. The award was established by 15 institutions in memory of the renowned academic expert on commons, Elinor Ostrom of Indiana University, who died…
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