Fisherman’s Beach town green registration celebrated
After three years’ hard work, residents of Hythe, near Folkestone in Kent have obtained town green status for Fisherman’s Beach in the western end of the town. Shepway Environment and Community Network (SECN), set up by local resident David Plumstead some years ago, first applied for registration in 2010 and finally achieved registration by Kent…
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Our manifesto for green spaces
We have published our manifesto for the 2015 Westminster election. We are calling on politicians of all parties to support these policies. Good-quality paths and green spaces are vital to people’s well-being and they support the economy too. So we are urging politicians to adopt policies which protect and promote commons, greens, other open spaces…
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Supreme Court denies village green protection in Whitby
R (on the application of Barkas) v North Yorkshire County Council [2014] UKSC31 (summary, full judgment). The Supreme Court has ruled that land at Helredale, on the south-east side of Whitby in North Yorkshire, cannot be registered as a village green. In October 2007 the Helredale Neighbourhood Council applied to register 14 hectares of land…
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Court of appeal thwarts Winchester village green application
The court of appeal has ruled that Hampshire County Council cannot consider an application by Barbara Guthrie to register land known as Bushfield Camp, at Winchester in Hampshire, as a town or village green. Mrs Guthrie had applied to register the land as a green on the basis of 20 years’ use by local people…
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All-party support for village greens in Wales
There was all-party support in the National Assembly for Wales for maintaining the current laws for registering greens. The debate was initiated on 30 April by Suzy Davies, Conservative Assembly Member (AM) for South Wales West and Shadow Minister for Welsh Culture, Language and Tourism. Suzy asked the Minister for Natural Resources and Food, Alun…
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New green for residents of Talybont, Ceredigion
We are delighted that local people have succeeded in registering land at Talybont, Ceredigion, as a village green. The land, known as Patchyn Plant, is on the east side of the Maes-y-deri housing estate. The application for green status was made to Ceredigion Council by Ms Sue Jones-Hughes in November 2011 on the ground that…
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Reignite the campaigning Kinder trespassers’ zeal
‘We must reignite the campaigning zeal of the Kinder trespassers. Times are tough for countryside campaigners, but the spirit of Kinder will carry us through.’ So declared our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, at the Spirit of Kinder event to celebrate the 82nd anniversary of the famous mass trespass. This was held at Sheffield Town Hall…
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Celebrating the South Downs National Park’s fourth birthday
‘We won the South Downs National Park just in time. Without the designation, the park might now be a very different place, with new development not only beating at its door, but trampling all over it.’ So said Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary, at a rally organised by the Hampshire Ramblers at Queen Elizabeth Country…
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Whitby village green’s fate to be decided by Supreme Court
The application to register Helredale playing fields as a village green will be heard in the Supreme Court on Wednesday 2 April. The case could last for two days. We have assisted members of Helredale Neighbourhood Council (HNC) in Whitby, North Yorkshire, with their case. A member of the HNC committee, Mrs Christine Barkas, had…
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War against green space
Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, writes of the unprecedented threats to open spaces. Our green spaces are being squeezed from both ends. Government made it harder to register greens and now a supreme court ruling encourages greedy developers to unpick existing registrations. Under the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 land cannot be registered as a…
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