Our new chairman
Tim Crowther from Weybridge in Surrey is our new chairman. For the past 12 years Tim has been an active member of Elmbridge Borough Council. Prior to retirement he worked for a government property agency. He became a member of the Open Spaces Society over 25 years ago. A lifelong walker, Tim has completed many…
Read MoreMessage from India
In January 2011 the Open Spaces Society’s general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, attended the global conference of the International Association for the Study of the Commons (IASC) in Hyderabad. She was the guest of IASC and of the co-host, the Indian Foundation for Ecological Security. She gives a snapshot of her eight days in India here.
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We’re not out of the woods yet
‘While today we can celebrate the government’s abandonment of plans to flog off England’s public forest estate, we are not out of the woods yet. There is still a campaign to be fought.’ So said Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary at a well-attended rally in Friston Forest, in the South Downs National Park (between Eastbourne…
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Honiton green space saved for the community
Campaigners from Honiton in East Devon are delighted that Littletown Green has been registered as a village green. The four-acre field has been enjoyed by local people for informal recreation for decades. With support from us, Rosemary Kimbell (a member of the society), her husband Alan and neighbours Mike Allen and Andy Cox gathered evidence…
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Whitstable beach saved from commercialisation
We have helped to save the lovely West Beach at Whitstable in Kent from commercialisation. Canterbury City Council’s Development Control Committee last night (8 March) unanimously refused plans from the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company to erect a beach café near Coastguard Alley. The society, with the Whitstable Beach Campaign and over 120 others, had objected…
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Gloucestershire benefactor ensures public paths are well marked
The public paths around Cheltenham in Gloucestershire continue to be well marked, thanks to the far-sightedness of Cheltenham benefactor Herbert Lucas Bradbury. Mr Bradbury died in 1959 leaving £1,500 on trust for erecting and maintaining signposts on public paths within a six-mile radius of Cheltenham Post Office. The fund, known as the Bradbury Bequest,…
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Campaign to save Henley green space
We are dismayed that the international land-agents, Chesterton Commercial (Oxon) Ltd, plan to swallow up most of a small green space at Northfield End, Henley. They have applied for planning permission for a new layout for ten parking spaces on the green. We have sent an objection to South Oxfordshire District Council. Says the society’s…
Read MoreOur pledge to fight sale of Nottinghamshire’s forests
Speaking to local historians in Nottinghamshire, our trustee, Jean Macdonald, pledged to help fight the sale of publicly-owned woods and forests in Nottinghamshire. Jean was addressing the first Angel Row Local History Forum on Tuesday evening [15 February] in Nottingham Central Library. The forum is organised by the Nottinghamshire Local History Association and supported by…
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The fight for West Beach, Whitstable
We have joined the campaign to stop the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company from building a café on the unspoilt West Beach at Whitstable in Kent. The society has sent an objection to Canterbury City Council. This is a lovely, unspoilt beach. The café will be an eyesore and will suburbanise it. It will interfere with…
Read MorePublic school privatisation plan bites the dust
Local Ramblers and the Open Spaces Society have led a successful bid to prevent the closure of a public footpath across the grounds of Pipers Corner, the posh public school at Great Kingshill, near High Wycombe in Bucks. A public inquiry was held last December and the Planning Inspectorate has now published its decision. The…
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