Renewed threat to popular Marlow path
We are dismayed that Harleyford Properties Ltd has renewed its application for planning permission for polo practice at Low Grounds Farm, near Marlow in Bucks. Wycombe District Council rejected a similar application last August because it would interfere with walkers, riders and cyclists using Harleyford Lane. The lane leads from western Marlow to the River…
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Our Caerphilly activist wins Environmental Champion Award
Maggie Thomas, our local correspondent for Caerphilly, has won the Environmental Champion prize in Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Pride in your Place award, for her work in defending public paths and open spaces. Maggie, who lives in Crosskeys, is also membership secretary for Islwyn Ramblers. Says Maggie: ‘I was thrilled to receive this award on…
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Path to Morfa Beach is saved from closure
The path to Morfa Beach, Longlands Lane at Margam in Neath Port Talbot, has been saved from closure. This follows a public inquiry in December 2013 at which the objectors included the society, the Save Morfa Beach campaign group, the Ramblers and many individuals. The inquiry inspector, Mrs Helen Slade, ruled that Longlands Lane (footpath…
Read MoreWe back Friends of Putney Common’s court action
We have pledged financial support for the Friends of Putney Common’s appeal-court action to save the common from road-building. The Friends, a member of OSS, are appealing against the high court’s refusal to stop the Wimbledon and Putney Common Conservators, owner of the common, from allowing Wandsworth Council to build private roads on Putney Lower…
Read MoreAncient Warwickshire landscape saved
We are delighted that Galley Common, Nuneaton in Warwickshire has been saved from housing development. We were among the objectors to a planning application from A R Cartwright Ltd for 130 houses with associated infrastructure on land north of Tunnel Road. Nuneaton & Bedworth Borough Council refused the application in December 2012, the applicant appealed…
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Government’s miserable lack of progress on green-space promise
Wildlife and Countryside Link’s Nature Check report, signed by 41 organisations, shows a miserable lack of progress on implementing the promised Local Green Space (LGS) designation. Nature Check analyses the government’s 25 commitments on the natural environment against a traffic-light system. It reveals that nine are red, 12 are amber and only four are green.…
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Common land reclaimed at St Just, Cornwall
More than 100 hectares of common land at Carn Kenidjack, north of St Just in Penwith, Cornwall, have been reclaimed as registered common land, using legislation which is being pioneered in Cornwall (part 1 of the Commons Act 2006). Following a public inquiry in September, planning inspector Martin Elliott ruled that the land should be…
Read MoreWe object to Defra’s plans to justify development
We have objected to plans by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for ‘biodiversity offsetting’, by which alternative sites and habitats are provided to replace those lost through development. The society responded to Defra’s consultation Biodiversity offsetting in England, green paper. We believe that offsetting will lead to a net loss of…
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Kate Ashbrook shortlisted as Outdoor Personality of the Year
We are delighted that our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, has been shortlisted as Outdoor Personality of the Year in The Great Outdoors (TGO) Awards which are run annually by TGO magazine and voted for by members of the public. Kate became general secretary of the society in 1984. A former member of the Countryside Agency…
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Objectors prepare for battle to save path to Morfa Beach
We are among the objectors to the proposed extinguishment of most of Longlands Lane, Margam, in Neath Port Talbot, and the diversion of the Wales Coastal Path inland beside a railway line and goods yard. There is to be a public inquiry into these proposed path-changes, to be held at the Orangery in Margam Country…
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