Our vice-president deplores lack of protection for green spaces
‘It is deplorable that, 16 months after the government published its plans for protecting England’s green spaces through a new Local Green Space Designation, very few such designations have been made.’ So declared Paul Clayden, our vice-president, at the society’s AGM in Birmingham on Tuesday (16 July). ‘In March 2012 the government published its National…
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Four-mile fence to remain on common land in national park
We are dismayed that the Welsh Government has allowed the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority to retain a four-mile fence across open country in the heart of the national park. The fence was erected on common land as an emergency measure during the foot-and-mouth epidemic of 2001 and it should have been removed by 2006.…
Read MoreCommon-land issues make future of ‘Circuit of Wales’ uncertain
The Circuit of Wales plan still has a long way to go before it can proceed, because of the need to sort out common-land issues. The application, from the Heads of the Valleys Development Company, for a motor-racing centre was approved by Blaenau Gwent council yesterday (10 July). As a number of objectors pointed out,…
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Call for better protection of our unique common land
We are calling for better protection for the unique common land of England and Wales. Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, spoke at a conference held at Newcastle University, Sustaining the Commons, on 5 July. Said Kate: ‘While the term”‘common” is understood internationally to mean “shared resource”—whether land, sea, the air or even information—here in…
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Appeal Court rules that village-greens law complies with human-rights law
We are pleased that the Court of Appeal has confirmed that the law for registering land as a town or village green complies with human rights legislation. The test case concerned land at West Beach, Newhaven, in East Sussex, where Newhaven Town Council has fought two legal challenges to its application to register the land…
Read MoreLancashire beauty-spot windfarm rejected
We are delighted that Lancaster City Council’s planning committee yesterday (Monday) unanimously refused the third application from Community Windpower Ltd for wind turbines on Claughton and Whit Moor, Lancashire. The application was to erect 10 wind turbines on common land in the Forest of Bowland Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. We backed Stop Claughton Turbines…
Read MoreNew edition of our greens bible
We have published the third edition of Getting Green Registered, our handbook on how to register land as a town or village green in England and Wales. The book includes the changes to the law, made by the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 in April, which make it harder to register land as a green…
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OSS wins Elinor Ostrom Award
We have won a prestigious international award for our work on common land. Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, received the first-ever Elinor Ostrom Award at a global conference in Japan last week. The award was established by 15 institutions in memory of the renowned academic expert on commons, Elinor Ostrom of Indiana University, who died…
Read MoreNew bill threatens public’s rights to open spaces and paths
We are alarmed that the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill, which is to have its second reading in the House of Commons on Monday (10 June), could make trespass a criminal offence in public places in England. The Bill will enable a local authority to make a Public Spaces Protection Order on a public…
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Haslingden footpaths saved
We are delighted to have helped save two public footpaths which cross Helmshore Primary School’s playing-fields at Haslingden, Lancashire. Lancashire County Council, the landowner, wanted to move the paths out of the way. They were only added to the official map of public paths in 2011 and have been blocked ever since by the school’s…
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