We oppose new golf-course on common land
We have objected to a planning application, from Old Thorns Golf and Country Club, to create a new golf-course on a heathland common near Liphook in the South Downs National Park. We consider the golf course will be highly damaging to the superb landscape of the area and people’s enjoyment of it. Common land is…
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Public Inquiry on Westfield Playing Fields, Harpenden, Hertfordshire
This will take place on December 10th. The Playing Field is a landlocked 2 hectare site, and has been used by local people for over a hundred years for sports and informal recreation. The land comprises the last remaining part of what was formerly Westfield Common. WAG (Westfield Action Group) under its Chair, Harpenden resident…
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Slow the traffic on unfenced commons
We have called for a universal speed-limit of 40 mph where unfenced roads cross common land. The society has responded to a consultation from the Department for Transport on the revision of its speed-limit circular. The Department favours a speed limit of 40 mph for roads ‘with a predominantly local, access or recreational function’ and…
Read MoreRights of Way: Restoring the Record
Want to check historic rights on a track but don’t know where to start? Need to find extra evidence before a public inquiry? Worried about your first visit to an archive office? Experienced, but just want to check which Act authorised which activities? Then you need Rights of Way: Restoring the Record, the new research…
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Brutal turbines of Mynydd y Gwair common
We have objected strongly to a planning application from RWE npower to site 16 wind turbines, with tracks and infrastructure, on Mynydd y Gwair common, a majestic hillside eight miles north of Swansea. There have been a number of turbine applications here in the past to which the society has objected. This is registered common…
Read MoreDisappointing fencing decision for Hednesford Hills
We are disappointed that the Secretary of State for Environment has approved an application for fencing on Hednesford Hills Common on the north-east side of Cannock in Staffordshire. We objected to this application, along with the British Horse Society and individuals. Cannock Chase Council applied to erect permanent stockproof fencing around two areas of the…
Read MoreSouth West commons conference
The biennial conference of the South West Uplands Federation is being held at Exeter Racecourse on Friday 19 October 2012, hosted by the Dartmoor Preservation Association. The conference will focus on the grazed commons of Bodmin, Exmoor and Dartmoor, the day-to-day practicalities of commons management and the implications of CAP reform and other policy changes.…
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Manège would suburbanise South Downs countryside
We have objected to a planning application for a manège at Sparkes Farm next to Ebernoe Common, three miles north of Petworth in West Sussex. The development comes hot on the heels of other planning applications at this site, for a stable complex and barn. The application is in the South Downs National Park and…
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Common ground not battleground
Article published on Headline Environment website, On the Agenda, 11 September 2012 Commons are unique and precious places to be treasured by all, says Kate Ashbrook, of the Open Spaces Society, as she welcomes the publication of a revised version of A Common Purpose. Kate Ashbrook writes: Common land has for centuries been a…
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Lambeth Council rejects Sky One TV’s domes on Clapham Common
Lambeth’s planning committee last night (11 September) rejected the application for a domed development on Clapham Common for Sky One TV’s ‘Got to Dance’. The domes were erected before the planning application was even considered by Lambeth Council. The councillors’ rejection was contrary to the officers’ recommendation of approval. The domes, with fencing, portacabins and…
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