Braintree Green Common freed from unlawful fence
We are delighted to have helped achieve the prompt removal of the unlawful picket-fence around part of Braintree Green Common at Rayne, one mile west of Braintree in Essex. At the end of September, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs refused retrospective consent for the 1.1-metre-high fence on common land, around…
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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 MoreNew green space – but keep off the grass!
The proposed new Local Green Space designation, in the government’s draft National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), is a muddle. It confers no right for the public to go there, so it may be that we can only look at it and not walk on it. The society has responded to the consultation on the draft…
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…
Read MoreFight to save country park from devastation
We have joined local campaigners including the Friends of Ringwood Forest in their battle to stop precious recreation land on the Hampshire/Dorset border from being carved up for mineral extraction and then becoming a waste dump. The site, known as Purple Haze, is west of the B3081, in the Moors Valley Country Park between Verwood…
Read MoreBraintree Green Common is not a private garden
We have called for the removal of an unlawful picket-fence around part of Braintree Green Common at Rayne, one mile west of Braintree in Essex. This follows the refusal by the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of retrospective consent for the works on common land, under section 38 of the Commons…
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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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Unlawful fence across Brecon Beacons commons must go
The Welsh Government has refused retrospective consent for a four-and-a-half-mile-long fence across common land in the Brecon Beacons National Park. The fence runs from near Pontsticill Reservoir in the south, crossing the hillside via Upper Neuadd Reservoir, passing just to the east of the famous summits of Pen y Fan and Cribyn and then cutting…
Read MorePlans withdrawn for 13 wind-turbines in tranquil Lune Valley
FELLS (Friends of Eden, Lakeland and Lunesdale Scenery), who have fought hard for over a decade to preserve the unspoiled tranquillity of the Lune Valley from its source in the Howgill Fells to the sea at Lancaster, are delighted that Community Windpower Ltd has withdrawn its appeal for the 13-turbine wind-farm development on Claughton and…
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