Gifting paths and open spaces via a society membership subscription
Do you know someone who enjoys spending time in open spaces or exploring our amazing network of paths? Would you like to buy a gift in this pandemic year that shows how much we have all come to value our outdoors, now more than ever? Would you like to make an environmentally friendly and ethical…
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New green at Scorton, North Yorkshire
We have congratulated Scorton Parish Council on its voluntary registration of land as a new village green. The land is adjacent to Blenheim Close at the southern end of the village which is north-east of Catterick in North Yorkshire. The new green adjoins the existing Jubilee Green which was registered two years ago. The parish…
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Protecting Wales’s local spaces through good design and community involvement
We have signed the Placemaking Wales Charter, pledging to support its objectives. These include a commitment to support the creation of high-quality places across Wales for the benefit of communities. The charter has been developed by the Welsh government and the Design Commission for Wales in collaboration with the Placemaking Wales partnership. It has more…
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Misdeeds and no deeds
On 28 September the Prime Minister pledged to protect an additional 400,000 hectares (1,562 square miles) of England’s countryside to support ‘the recovery of nature’. A fine promise but what does it mean? The recovery of nature is immensely important, so too is the recovery of people. The pandemic has shown the value of local…
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October update: Open Space Charters
This year people have enjoyed their local green spaces as never before. Now is the time to protect and expand them. In early August we wrote to every planning authority in England and Wales (nearly 400 of them), Robert Jenrick, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, and Julie James, the Welsh…
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Government’s demolition of the planning system
We have slated the government’s white paper, Planning for the Future. In our response to the government consultation, we have argued that the proposed reforms will put precious open spaces and paths at risk. The government proposes to divide the country into three planning zones: ‘growth’ (suitable for substantial development), ‘renewal’ (suitable for development) and…
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We fight proposed development on Powys common
The society has objected to a planning application for a dwelling, garage, workshop, driveway and associated works on and adjacent to a common near Erwood in Powys. Mr Richard King of Skreen Cottage, Llandeilo Graban, has applied for the development with no mention of the fact that the land affected is a registered common, The Skreen,…
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Landscapes Review – what next?
Shoulder to shoulder with other influential NGO organisations including Campaign for National Parks, National Trust, Ramblers, RSPB, Youth Hostels Association, CPRE, The Wildlife Trusts and the British Mountaineering Council, and now a year since the publication of the Landscapes Review, we have written to Rt Hon George Eustice MP, Secretary of State for the Environment,…
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Agricultural grants must be properly enforced
We have criticised as weak and ineffective the government’s proposals for monitoring and enforcing compliance with agricultural grants. In its consultation, Financial Assistance Statutory Instrument, the government proposes to monitor the use of public funds for delivering public goods as part of the new agricultural grant programme post Brexit. However, it only proposes to…
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Expanding our freedoms
The Open Spaces Society has long campaigned for responsible freedom to roam away from public paths in England and Wales. The Countryside and Rights of Way (CROW) Act 2000 went some way towards achieving this, but the rights were only for walkers and were limited to registered commons, and mapped areas of mountain, moor, heath…
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