Latest News

Damaging plans in Glasbury, Powys

April 11, 2017

We have objected to a planning application for 18 dwellings and associated works in the village of Glasbury on the River Wye in Powys. The society is concerned that the development would be on land which has customarily been enjoyed by the public for informal recreation and that it will also affect public paths. The…

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Unfair land-swap at Gorseinon, Swansea

March 28, 2017

Persimmon Homes wants to swap an area of Mynydd Garngoch Common at Gorseinon, north-west of Swansea. The plan is to strike 0.71 hectares of common land from the register and use it for development, replacing it with 0.81 hectares of land which we and others believe to be inferior. Persimmon says that it needs the…

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Future Generations Commissioner for Wales consults on strategic plan

March 18, 2017

The office of the first Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, Sophie Howe, has launched a new website and a broad conversation/consultation on their Draft Strategic Plan and policy priorities. They are currently running a survey which will collate broad patterns of priorities raised by organisations, individuals and companies. It is anticipated that this survey will…

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We fight electricity line across Bridgend common

March 15, 2017

Western Power Distribution intends to site an overhead electricity line, with 16 poles, on a South Wales common. The society has objected. The proposed electricity line would run for more than a mile across Mynydd Llangeinwyr common, the upland between Cwm Garw and Cwm Ogwr Fawr about six miles north of Bridgend. Because the line…

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Our four-point plan to improve paths in Powys

February 6, 2017

We have called on Powys County Council to step up its work in maintaining and promoting the county’s public-path network. The society was responding to a consultation on the council’s revised rights-of-way improvement plan (ROWIP). Our Radnorshire representative, Peter Newman, says that much of the public-rights-of-way network in Powys is ‘dire’ and that in many…

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New threat of wind turbines in Cambrian Mountains

November 21, 2016

Powys County Council proposes to designate Local Search Areas (LSAs), where wind and solar generation will be encouraged.  The result could be many wind turbines and other structures on the mountains of central Wales.  The proposals are made in the county’s Local Development Plan on which the public’s views are sought. We have objected most strongly. …

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Forest of Dean Council rejects criminal sanctions on shepherds

November 4, 2016

We are delighted that Forest of Dean District Council’s has rejected the proposed measure to make so-called irresponsible shepherds into criminals. The council has decided, on the chairman’s casting vote, not to invoke its proposed Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in the village of Bream, three miles north-west of Lydney in Gloucestershire.  The council wishes…

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Damaging track across Anglesey common given the go-ahead

August 23, 2016

We are disappointed that the Planning Inspectorate has approved an appeal against Anglesey Council’s refusal of a planning application for a new dwelling at the rear of Penmarian Mawr, Llangoed. The development is in the designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and includes a new access across registered common land. We were among the…

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We oppose excessive measures to curb Forest sheep

August 23, 2016

We have objected to the Forest of Dean District Council’s proposed measure to make so-called irresponsible shepherds into criminals. The council has invited comments on its plans to impose a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in the village of Bream, three miles north-west of Lydney in Gloucestershire. The council wishes to address the problem of…

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Amended guidance on obstructed rights of way in Wales

August 3, 2016

Our trustee and local correspondent, Peter Newman, has reported on his work to open up illegally obstructed rights of way in Powys: “There are many areas in Powys where the rights of way network in largely inaccessible because of large scale obstruction by illegal wire and barbed wire fences. Powys County Council is largely ineffective…

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