Now is the time to give public access a leg up
‘The new agricultural-payment regimes in England and Wales provide a perfect opportunity for farmers and landowners to give public access a leg up.’ So declared our chairman, Phil Wadey, in his keynote speech to the society’s annual general meeting in London today (7 July). ‘The Westminster government and the Wales Senedd have agreed that farmers…
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Café on Bristol’s Downs
We are dismayed that councillors in Bristol have approved plans for a café on the city’s glorious downs, close to the Avon Gorge. We have called for radical reform of the nineteenth-century Downs Committee, which put forward the plans. Bristol’s iconic sea-walls are a wholly inappropriate site for a café. It will spoil the view…
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Open Spaces Society marks centenary of important law for common land
Today (29 June) the Open Spaces Society, Britain’s leading pressure group for common land(1),celebrates the centenary of the Law of Property Act 1922. Thanks to the efforts of the society, the bill was amended in parliament to give the public rights to walk and ride on certain commons, and protect commons from enclosure and encroachment.…
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Norfolk common saved from electricity development
We are delighted that a Norfolk parish council has withdrawn consent for works on the local common, ensuring that the land can remain free and unencumbered. The common is a tiny (one-eighth of a hectare) patch of land south of Broomsthorpe Road in East Rudham, six miles west of Fakenham. It is owned by the…
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An interview with the IASC
Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, recently spoke to the International Association for the Study of the Commons to give a history of Open Spaces Society and our work. The article below appeared in the IASC newsletter. I am Kate Ashbrook, and have been the general secretary (chief executive) of the Open Spaces Society since 1984. …
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What quantum shift?
Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, writes of the government’s failure to deliver on public access. Last July Natural England (NE) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) invited us to contribute to Lord Agnew’s ‘Commission on levelling-up access to the outdoors for all’. They wished to ‘gather views and consider the development…
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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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Challenging disposal of open space
Greenfields Recreation Ground (GRG) in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, has been used by local people since the 1960s. The land was owned and managed by the council and held as open space under a statutory trust for recreation, but in 2017 it was sold to a developer. Sadly this is a situation that we see all too…
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Access and land justice
In February 2022, the society contributed to a project about access and land justice. This was run by Dr Camilla Penney and Dr Elsa Noterman from Cambridge University, and included a two-day workshop in which the society participated. Day one started with a walk to the Cambridge rugby ground with the Cambridge group of the…
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Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill
The Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill (the bill) was introduced into parliament on 11 May 2022. The second reading will take place on 8 June. The stated ambition of the bill is to reverse the geographical disparities between different parts of the UK by spreading opportunity more equally. The bill includes a broad range of measures…
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