Clyne Common, Swansea, saved from housing development
The attempt by the Duke of Beaufort’s Somerset Trust to take part of Clyne Common at West Cross for housing development has finally been refused. The deputy minister, Huw Irranca-Davis, has rejected the trust’s application to deregister 2.8 hectares on the eastern side of the common (the ‘release land’) and replace it with 3.4 hectares…
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We celebrate our Herefordshire volunteer’s law degree
Our local correspondent for south Herefordshire, Dave Howerski, has obtained a law degree from the Open University. Dave was inspired to study for this through his voluntary work for the society, campaigning for public paths, threatening legal action, and persuading Herefordshire Council to carry out its statutory duty to protect and maintain them. Dave, who…
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Government challenged to save missing commons
On the sixtieth anniversary of the Commons Registration Act 1965, we have challenged ministers to re-open the closed registers in England, and save thousands of square miles of green land for the people to enjoy. In a letter to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Rt Hon Steve Reed MP,…
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More Dartmoor land restored as common
Another piece of the Dartmoor National Park in Devon has been registered as common land. Planning Inspector Nigel Farthing has granted the society’s application to register as common about 82.25 hectares of part of Ditsworthy Warren. The land, which is about 2.5 kilometres east of Sheepstor, is grazed and uncultivated. In 1968, a tract of…
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We celebrate Brent River Park on fiftieth anniversary
‘The Open Spaces Society warmly salutes the visionaries who founded the Brent River Park, and all who have made it the lovely space it is today.’ So said Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary, at the event, organised by the Brent River and Canal Society (BRCS), to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Brent River Park’s…
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We help to secure new common land at Yateley, Hampshire
We have welcomed a decision to take new land into Yateley Common at Cottage Farm. Paul Freer, BA (Hons) LLM PhD MRTPI, a Planning Inspectorate inspector, granted the application of Falcon Propco4 Ltd (the owner of Blackbushe aerodrome) to deregister just over 14 hectares of aerodrome common land, and designate about the same area of…
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Plymouth City Council reverses decision to build on Wilmot Gardens
We are delighted that the high court has quashed Plymouth City Council’s decision to build five houses on Wilmot Gardens, a popular open space in Crownhill. The society gave financial support to local campaigners fighting to save this space. Unusually, when faced with court action from Frank Hartkopf, on behalf of local people, the council…
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Public right to walk on Clinton Devon Estate’s new commons
Today, 16 April 2025, the public gains the right to walk on newly-registered common land on the Clinton Devon Estates at Woodbury, east Devon. This is thanks to an agreement between the estate and the society. In November 2023 Clinton Devon Estates sought consent under section 16 of the Commons Act 2006 to deregister 1.7…
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Commons deserve the highest protection
We have called for modernising legislation enabling the compulsory purchase of common land, while retaining the existing, vital, safeguard of Parliamentary scrutiny in exceptional cases. Responding to the Law Commission’s consultation on compulsory purchase[1], the society endorses the protection for common land and open space subject to a compulsory purchase order. Existing legislation, in the…
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Call for Gloucestershire councils to promote new greens
We have written to county and district councillors, and town and parish councils throughout Gloucestershire promoting the voluntary registration of open spaces as town and village greens (TVG) to benefit the public. In his letter Chas Townley, the society’s local correspondent for Gloucestershire, says that ‘registration of open space as TVG means that it is…
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