Refused: road across Dunsfold Common, Surrey
We are delighted that a planning inspector has rejected a proposed access-road across Dunsfold Common, 14 kilometres south of Guildford in Surrey. The application for a 5.5-metre-wide road, with 1.5-metre-wide footway and associated works, was made for Sigma Homes Ltd, the prospective developer, by Batcheller Monkhouse, surveyors and town planners. The proposed road was to…
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Land at Hatfield House restored as common
We are celebrating the decision of Hertfordshire County Council, the commons registration authority, to grant the society’s application to register as common land 1.8 hectares on the south side of Wildhill Road, Hatfield, Hertfordshire. The land comprises a mixture of grass, shrub, and trees. It is just under six kilometres south-east of Hatfield House which…
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New green at Long Ditton, Surrey
We are delighted that Elmbridge Borough Council in Surrey has voluntarily registered Stokes Field, Long Ditton, as a village green. This follows a long campaign by the society. Comprising about eight hectares of mixed woodland, open grassland and scrub intersected by numerous paths, the land is also a Local Nature Reserve. After Elmbridge Council’s consultants…
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Peaslake village alleyway saved
A threat to deregister common land in Peaslake, Surrey, has been withdrawn after we led opposition to the proposal. Application had been made to the council by the proprietors of Ranger’s Cottage, Ewhurst Road, Peaslake (which is six miles south-east of Guildford in the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) to remove from the…
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Common land restored at Radfall Road, Blean, Kent
We welcome the decision by the planning inspectorate to grant our application to register as common land two pieces of land comprising approximately one hectare, near Blean, two miles north of Canterbury in Kent. In 1969 and under the Commons Registration Act 1965, an area of land known as Radfall Road running through Blean Woods…
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Dadima’s footsteps
Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, writes of a new walking experience. Geeta Ludhra (British-born woman of South Asian heritage, and a member of the Chilterns Conservation Board), has established a monthly programme of educational nature walks with a difference in the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Dadima’s Walks (‘dadima’ being the Hindu noun for…
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We save Brickhill footpath, Bedford, from closure
We are delighted to have saved Brickhill footpath 9 from closure, following a public hearing in November. We were represented by our local correspondent and veteran path-defender, Mike Clarke. The 240-metre-long path runs between Waveney Avenue in the north to Falcon Avenue in the south, across Waveney Green, Brickhill, on the north side of Bedford. …
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New village greens at Dorchester on Thames and Little Wittenham, Oxfordshire
We are celebrating the registration of two new village green at Dorchester on Thames and Little Wittenham in Oxfordshire. The greens at the historic Dyke Hills (3.03 hectares), a scheduled Iron Age settlement, and at Day’s Lock Meadow (2.37 hectares) beside the River Thames. They have been voluntarily registered by a beneficent landowner, Keith Ives.…
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Hertfordshire green to garden gambit rejected
We have welcomed a decision to preserve part of Preston recreation ground, in Hertfordshire, which the parish council wanted to convert to a private garden. Preston Parish Council wanted to sell off around 70 square metres of Preston recreation ground, which lies on the west side of Hitchin Road, in the village west of Stevenage. …
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We rescue two lost commons in Hertfordshire
We welcome the decision of Hertfordshire County Council, the commons registration authority, to grant our applications to register as common two pieces of land about two miles south-east of Walkern near Stevenage. These commons failed to be finally registered during the three-year period allowed by the Commons Registration Act 1965. Part 1 of the Commons…
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