Jack & Irene Candy Bequest
Jack Candy, who died aged 95 in 2017, was a long-standing member and supporter of the OSS, serving as our Southampton local correspondent from 1999 to 2012. With his wife Irene, he was a champion of community heritage and open spaces in Southampton. Jack generously left us the residue of his estate, for the establishment…
Read More
Norfolk Path Recognised As A Route For Riders, Cyclists And Carriage Drivers
A route at Trunch in North Norfolk, which was recorded as a public footpath, has recently been confirmed as a restricted byway with rights for riders, cyclists and carriage drivers as well as walkers. Postle’s Lane, Trunch – south end with signpost Ian Witham, our local correspondent in Norfolk, discovered evidence to show that the 500-metre Postle’s Lane, in…
Read More
Seventieth Anniversary Of ‘A People’s Charter’
This year we celebrate the seventieth anniversary of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. Our general secretary Kate Ashbrook, explains what it achieved. This is not just a Bill. It is a people’s charter—a people’s charter for the open air, for the hikers and the ramblers, for everyone who lives to…
Read More
Beef Up The Bill
In her Opinion article in the autumn issue of Open Space magazine, our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, writes about the Agriculture Bill. Last summer the Dartmoor Society (a voluntary body) hosted a visit to Gidleigh Common on north-east Dartmoor. Those present were shocked to see the land there smothered in purple moor-grass and gorse, where once there had been…
Read More
Nutsford Vale Open Space, Manchester, Is Saved
Picnic at Nutsford Vale We are delighted that Manchester City Council’s education department has decided not to build a school on the popular open space at Nutsford Vale, despite having received planning permission earlier this year. With our member, the Friends of Nutsford Vale, we opposed the planning application on this council-owned park on the borders…
Read More
Appalling Decision To Allow Wind Turbines On Powys Beauty-Spot
A Welsh Government minister has approved an application for seven wind-turbines at Llandegley Rocks, near Llandrindod Wells in Powys. The decision overturns the recommendation of an inspector at a public inquiry held in March. The Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, has rejected the report of the inspector, planner Hywel Wyn…
Read More
Pulling The Trigger On Village Greens
Cooper Estates Strategic Land Ltd v Wiltshire Council and Richard Gosnell and Royal Wootton Bassett Town Council. This is the first court case to pronounce on the meaning of ‘trigger events’ (as defined in section 15C of, and schedule 1A to, the Commons Act 2006) and has worrying implications. Such an event, which includes the…
Read More
Our local correspondents gather in the Lickey Hills
Over two days in mid August, 29 local correspondents, trustees and members of staff met at the Hillscourt conference centre, Rednall, on the edge of the Lickey Hills country park south-west of Birmingham. It was an opportunity to swap experiences and ideas and to learn more about the range of activities in which the society…
Read More
Countryside Act at 50
On 3 July we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Countryside Act 1968, an important piece of legislation. The Open Spaces Society, with the Ramblers, played a major role in its genesis. Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, explains its history and significance. The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949, which led to…
Read More
What tragedy?
This year is the fiftieth anniversary of an influential article which, wrongly, gave commons a bad name. In 1968 Science magazine published a paper called ‘The tragedy of the commons’ by biologist Garrett Hardin. Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, explains. This was about the global population problem, in part inspired by an 1833 pamphlet by…
Read More