Government should learn from Cumbrian green-space project
‘The government could learn a lot from the Our Green Space project in Cumbria.’ So declares our general secretary Kate Ashbrook, who spoke at the project’s celebratory event in Penrith on 11 November. ‘Here five communities*, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Friends of the Lake District, have revitalised their local green…
Read MorePlan to suburbanise Cornish coast
We are opposing plans which would suburbanise the small rural community of Trevone, near Padstow on the north coast of Cornwall. An application from First Step Homes to erect 15 dwellings at Trevone Farm comes before the planning committee on 9 November. This development will be an eyesore, a suburban excrescence in open country. There…
Read MoreGood news-bad news for Bodmin Moor
We are pleased that Community Windpower Ltd has withdrawn its application for 20 wind turbines on land adjoining the peaks of Rough Tor and Brown Willy, near Davidstow Wood on Cornwall’s Bodmin Moor. But we are worried that the company has threatened to submit a further application soon. Cornwall County Council’s planning committee rejected the…
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Defra drives a bulldozer through village greens law
We have slated the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for driving a bulldozer through the laws for registering land as a new village green. The society has responded to Defra’s consultation on the registration of new town or village greens. At present land can be registered as a green if it has…
Read MoreConsent refused for alien hedge on Herts common
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has refused consent to Mr James Wright for a conifer hedge on registered common land at the former Old Chequers pub near Flamstead in Hertfordshire. The society and Flamstead Parish Council were among the nine objectors to the application for works on common land, under…
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The Open Spaces Society’s views on Defra’s consultation on the registration of new village greens, September 2011
We are deeply concerned about this consultation. We have asked our members for their views and are preparing a detailed response before the closing date of 17 October. In particular, our concerns are as follows. 1. A package The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) appears to be presenting a package of proposals,…
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Access bodies launch Lancashire project to rescue lost commons
The Open Spaces Society and the British Horse Society have launched a joint project to rescue thousands of acres of lost common land and record them for public use. We are funding Steve Byrne to research land in the Lancashire area that was omitted from the commons registers in the late 1960s and early 1970s…
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Long-service award for Peter Newman
The society’s trustees have made an award to Peter Newman for achieving 25 years on our board. They presented Peter with a blotter at their meeting this week, to thank him both for his long service to the committee and as a campaigner for public paths in the Welsh Marches. Peter lives and works in…
Read MoreEssex footpath saved from glasshouse development
Epping Forest District Council has refused consent for a massive glasshouse development across a public footpath, Nazeing footpath 10, in Essex. We were among the objectors to the planning application, from Valley Grown Nurseries, Paynes Lane, Nazeing, to erect 87,119 square metres of glasshouses plus an ancillary warehouse. The development would have required Nazeing footpath…
Read MoreThreat to South Wales beach path
Neath Port Talbot Council proposes to close the public footpath known as Longlands Lane (footpath 92) which leads to Morfa Beach, Margam, and to move the path (footpath 93) from its route along the edge of the dunes onto a disused railway. The extinguishment and diversion orders are made under the Highways Act 1980 and…
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