We fight development on treasured Picket Mead common
Carrington Moore Estates wants to build four houses next to Picket Mead Common at Murton, Swansea, with a driveway over the common and cabling underneath it. Last December Welsh ministers rejected appeals by the company against the refusal of permission for a similar application, but the developers are trying again to get consent. We have…
Read MoreCourt win for Yeadon Banks town green
We are delighted that the case for registering Yeadon Banks as a town green has prevailed in the Court of Appeal. The five-acre Yeadon Banks is a much-loved open space on the outskirts of Leeds. On Friday (2 December) the Appeal Court rejected the arguments on behalf of the landowner, Leeds Group plc, that the…
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New footpath in Leicestershire
Chris Peat (a member of the society and clerk to Carlton Parish Council) organised a special celebration for the opening of a new definitive right of way on land between the villages of Carlton and Barton in the Beans, about ten miles west of Leicester. The new path links footpath S68 (on the well-known Leicestershire…
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Mega-nosedive for microlights in mid Bucks
A planning inspector, John Felgate, has rejected plans by Mr Mark Fowler to fly microlight aircraft from Bernwood Farm, Botolph Claydon in mid Bucks. Mr Fowler had appealed against Aylesbury Vale District Council’s refusal of consent in December 2010. The application was retrospective: Mr Fowler, the tenant of Bernwood Farm, was already flying aircraft there…
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Government should learn from Cumbrian green-space project
‘The government could learn a lot from the Our Green Space project in Cumbria.’ So declares our general secretary Kate Ashbrook, who spoke at the project’s celebratory event in Penrith on 11 November. ‘Here five communities*, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Friends of the Lake District, have revitalised their local green…
Read MorePlan to suburbanise Cornish coast
We are opposing plans which would suburbanise the small rural community of Trevone, near Padstow on the north coast of Cornwall. An application from First Step Homes to erect 15 dwellings at Trevone Farm comes before the planning committee on 9 November. This development will be an eyesore, a suburban excrescence in open country. There…
Read MoreGood news-bad news for Bodmin Moor
We are pleased that Community Windpower Ltd has withdrawn its application for 20 wind turbines on land adjoining the peaks of Rough Tor and Brown Willy, near Davidstow Wood on Cornwall’s Bodmin Moor. But we are worried that the company has threatened to submit a further application soon. Cornwall County Council’s planning committee rejected the…
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Defra drives a bulldozer through village greens law
We have slated the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for driving a bulldozer through the laws for registering land as a new village green. The society has responded to Defra’s consultation on the registration of new town or village greens. At present land can be registered as a green if it has…
Read MoreConsent refused for alien hedge on Herts common
The Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has refused consent to Mr James Wright for a conifer hedge on registered common land at the former Old Chequers pub near Flamstead in Hertfordshire. The society and Flamstead Parish Council were among the nine objectors to the application for works on common land, under…
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The Open Spaces Society’s views on Defra’s consultation on the registration of new village greens, September 2011
We are deeply concerned about this consultation. We have asked our members for their views and are preparing a detailed response before the closing date of 17 October. In particular, our concerns are as follows. 1. A package The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) appears to be presenting a package of proposals,…
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