Chiltern common freed of fence and keep-out notices
We are delighted that Yeoman Homes has removed the ugly fencing which blocked access to the lovely Layters Green Common, near Chalfont St Peter in the Buckinghamshire Chilterns. The Open Spaces Society, with Chalfont St Peter Parish Council, called on Chiltern District Council to take enforcement action against the works which were erected on the…
Read MoreWestfield Common, Woking, saved from degradation
A public-inquiry inspector has rejected Woking Borough Council’s plans to swap part of Westfield Common at Woking in Surrey, to provide an access road to a potential new housing development. The decision from the inspector, Heidi Cruickshank, followed a public inquiry last July into the application for the exchange of common land, to which there…
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New plan for unique Odiham Common
Hart District Council has published its ten-year management plan for Odiham Common in north Hampshire. (Click to read) The plan is the result of 18 months’ work by an advisory group,(1) and a significant investment by the district council. The 284-acre common, which is owned by Hart District Council, is a site of special scientific…
Read MoreOpen Spaces Society fights gating order for Hove path
The Open Spaces Society,(1) Britain’s oldest national conservation body, has opposed Brighton and Hove Council’s plan to make a gating order for Farman Street, Hove. (2) The council wants to lock people out of the street between 9pm and 8am, claiming that the route is associated with crime and anti-social behaviour. Says Kate Ashbrook, the…
Read MorePart of unique Galleywood Common lost for ever
Land at Galleywood Common, near Chelmsford in Essex, is to be sacrificed for industrial development. Galleywood is an ancient common which is mentioned in the Domesday Book and was at that time four times its present size. A four-day public inquiry was held last June into Chelmsford Borough Council’s proposal to swap part of Galleywood…
Read MoreBrick pillars on Chailey Common must go
Lewes District Council’s planning applications committee has rejected a retrospective application for brick pillars on Chailey Common, East Sussex, at its meeting on 13 October. The councillors threw out the application from the owners of White Cottage, Haywards Heath Road, North Chailey, because they considered the brick piers bearing the house name were incongruous in…
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Wormley nature reserve saved
The nature reserve in Wormley, south of Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, has been saved from demotion. Broxbourne Borough Council, in its draft Local Development Framework 2011-2021, threatened to remove the Top Field and Cozens Grove local nature reserve from the green belt, which would have laid it open to development. After lobbying by local people, the…
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Encroachments on Chiltern common
We have called on Chiltern District Council to take enforcement action against unlawful works on Layters Green Common, Chalfont St Peter, in the Buckinghamshire Chilterns. Willow Developments has planning permission to develop Willow Tree House, Layters Green, but the council has told the developer that it must first get consent from the Secretary of State…
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Excrescences on Chailey Common
Lewes District Council’s Planning Applications Committee has deferred determination of a retrospective application for brick piers on Chailey Common in East Sussex because it needs to investigate the matter further. The planning application has been submitted by the owners of White Cottage, Haywards Heath Road, North Chailey. They erected illuminated, brick piers with their house…
Read MoreThreat to Hertfordshire’s prime path
We have objected to plans to site two new schools at Whittington Way on the south side of Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire, because they will severely interfere with the Hertfordshire Way long-distance footpath.(1) The governors of the Bishop’s Stortford and Herts & Essex High Schools want to move the two schools to the Whittington Way…
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