Kent parish council dedicates a green
We have commended our member East Malling and Larkfield Parish Council in Kent for dedicating land as a village green. Kent County Council approved the registration in February. The one-acre land is known as Whimbrel Village Green and is an area of open space within a housing estate (the streets of which are named…
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Blackbushe aerodrome – court halts removal of land from Yateley Common
We are delighted that the High Court has quashed an inspector’s decision to remove land at Blackbushe aerodrome, Hampshire, from the register of common land. Mr Justice Holgate gave judgment1 today following a judicial review brought by Hampshire County Council, the commons registration authority, against the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural…
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Commons victory at historic Berkhamsted
We are delighted that Hertfordshire County Council has added a piece of Berkhamsted Common to the common-land register. This will protect a further part of this historic common from development. The land is 0.17 hectares to the north of Britwell Drive, near Berkhamsted Golf Club (about one kilometre north-west of Berkhamsted). The land was subject…
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The rise and fall of village greens
The Supreme Court has dealt a bitter blow to communities wanting to protect their open spaces. As a result of a judgment last December concerning two green spaces, in Lancashire and Surrey, it has become much more difficult to protect land and assert rights of recreation on it. Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, follows the…
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Commons past and present – Downley local history group event
Our commons re-registration officer Frances Kerner gave an illustrated talk on 29 February 2020 at Downley Memorial Hall entitled, Downley Common, its Origin and Survival within the Manor of West Wycombe. The hall was packed, with 92 people present. Frances’s talk traced the general history of common land, including its survival and loss. As an…
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Kingsmead Field, Canterbury, is made a village green
Canterbury City Council has dedicated three acres of Kingsmead Field in Kent as a village green. Kent County Council approved the registration last month. Now that the land is registered it is protected from development and local people have rights of recreation here. Canterbury City Council agreed to dedicate the land in return for a…
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Mass protest against missing Thames-side footbridge at Fawley
On Saturday 16 November more than 150 people, from Henley-on-Thames and beyond, joined a rally to protest at the year-long closure of Fawley footpath 12 due to a missing footbridge at Fawley Court in Buckinghamshire. The closure is forcing walkers onto the dangerous A4155 Henley-to-Marlow road. The protest was organised by the Ramblers Henley and…
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We fight Henley Festival footpath closure
We have objected to plans by the Henley Festival for the temporary closure of the Thames Path National Trail in July 2020. Every year since 1998 the Festival has applied to Wokingham Borough Council, the highway authority, for the temporary closure of the path before, during and after the Festival—and the council has agreed. The…
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We fight development on Hampshire common
We have objected to an application from Mr Christopher Ball to build three houses and an access road on Odiham Common in Hampshire. The land, at Potbridge, is registered common land. Any development on common land requires the consent of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in addition to any planning…
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The meaning of ‘curtilage’
On 12 June this year, inspector Alan Beckett granted an application to deregister around 46 hectares of Blackbushe aerodrome at Yateley Common. The application, made by Blackbushe Airport Ltd (BAL), was made under paragraph 6 of schedule 2 to the Commons Act 2006, on the basis that the land was ‘covered by a building or…
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