Celebrating the South Downs National Park’s fourth birthday
‘We won the South Downs National Park just in time. Without the designation, the park might now be a very different place, with new development not only beating at its door, but trampling all over it.’ So said Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary, at a rally organised by the Hampshire Ramblers at Queen Elizabeth Country…
Read More
We present award to Bishop’s Meadow Trust
Our chairman, Tim Crowther, has presented a plaque to the Bishop’s Meadow Trust, Farnham, winner of the society’s first Open Space Award in 2012. The ceremony was held in the new community orchard, created for local schoolchildren to care for and harvest. The event was combined with a children’s tree-planting and the Mayor of Farnham,…
Read More
Wycombe Council rejects Marlow polo-plans a second time
Wycombe District Council has again rejected a planning application for polo practice at Low Grounds Farm, near Marlow in Bucks. The proposed development would lead to interference with those seeking quiet recreation on the nearby Harleyford Lane. Harleyford Properties Ltd’s application was for change of use of land from agricultural use to polo practice and…
Read More
Our new activist for Wealden District, East Sussex
We have appointed Mr Brendan Clegg as our local correspondent for Wealden District in East Sussex. Brendan will be the society’s eyes and ears, keeping a close watch on paths, commons, greens and open spaces in the district and intervening as necessary. Says Brendan: ‘I am very pleased to be appointed as local correspondent for…
Read More
Residents save Bucks green
Congratulations to our member the Penn & Tylers Green Residents’ Society in Bucks who have won a five-year campaign to register two verges as village green and have set an excellent example to other communities. The land consists of two, wide, roadside verges leading from the Hazlemere to Penn road (the B474) into Coppice Farm…
Read More
Fencing on Hunsdon Mead common is approved
The Planning Inspectorate has approved an application from the Herts and North Middlesex Wildlife Trust for fencing on Hunsdon Mead Common in Essex. The trust applied to erect a permanent, 1,000-metre fence along the line of the towpath boundary of the common to prevent disturbance of sheep grazing the common. We objected because the fence…
Read More
We back coastal access for the Isle of Wight
We have again called on the environment minister to include the Isle of Wight in the coastal-access provisions of Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs consulted on this in July 2012 and then, despite the overwhelming support for the order, resolved not to proceed. Now it has…
Read More
Horsted Keynes footpath is saved
A popular footpath at Horsted Keynes, four miles north-east of Haywards Heath in West Sussex, has been saved on its existing route. West Sussex County Council backed the landowner, Miss Wykeham-Martin, in her application to move the footpath, number 8/1, which runs across three fields at Lucas Farm to the edge of two of them.…
Read MoreWe object to private use of Surrey common
We have objected to plans by the Shere Manor Estate to construct four parking-spaces on The Hurtwood common, near Holmbury St Mary in Surrey. This is to provide parking for the future occupiers of properties created from the conversion of The Hollybush tavern. Because the works are on common land, they require the consent of…
Read MoreNew plan for golf-course on national-park common
We have objected to a new planning application, from Old Thorns Golf and Country Club, to create a golf-course on a heathland common near Liphook in the South Downs National Park. The golf course will be highly damaging to the superb landscape of the area and people’s enjoyment of it. The development will also interfere…
Read More