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<div align="center"><b>OPEN SPACES SOCIETY<br>
</b></div>
<br>
<div align="center"><b>NEWS RELEASE<br>
</b></div>
<br>
<div align="center"><b> <br>
</b></div>
<br>
<div align="center"><b>OPEN SPACES SOCIETY’S DISMAY THAT GOVERNMENT
UNDERMINES ENVIRONMENTAL PROMISES<br>
</b></div>
<br>
<b> <br>
</b><br>
‘Until government departments stop undermining Defra’s promises, there is
little hope of achieving them.’ So declares Kate Ashbrook, the
general secretary of the Open Spaces Society<sup>(1)</sup>, in Opinion
(page 1) of the society’s magazine <i>Open Space</i>, published today (11
June).<br><br>
<br><br>
Kate writes of the optimistic announcements from the Secretary of State
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, George Eustice, on 18 May, to
‘halt the decline of nature’ with a ‘legally-binding’ target for species
abundance (to be defined) by 2030, restoration of 35,000 hectares of
peatland by 2025, and woodlands expanded to cover 2 per cent of England
by mid-century.<br><br>
<br><br>
‘These are fine words,’ says Kate, ‘but there was precious little said
about people’.<br><br>
<br><br>
It appears that little of the new woodland will be around towns and
cities where it is needed most, and that any new access there will be
permissive rather than by right.<br><br>
<br><br>
But the society’s principal concern is that, while Defra makes promises,
other government departments undermine themwith HS2, the £27-billion
road programme, and the wrecking of the planning system. When he
was asked about this, George Eustice gave an inadequate reply: ‘we
sometimes have to balance difficult judgements’. <br><br>
<br><br>
Says Kate: ‘Government must be fully behind Defra’s promises, otherwise
they cannot be achieved. Government needs to listen to the voices
of young people tooit is their hopes which will be dashed unless
government stops the wreckage.’<br><br>
<br><br>
Also in this issue of <i>Open Space</i>:<br><br>
<ul>
<li>Eleven-year-old Patricia Wittbom from Cheshire hikes 21 kilometres to
raise money for the Open Spaces Society (front cover and page 4).
</ul><br>
<ul>
<li>The society’s historic lantern-slide collection revealed (page 2).
</ul><br>
<ul>
<li>The society’s campaign to encourage local councils voluntarily to
dedicate land as a town or village green<sup>(2)</sup>, to protect it
from development and give local people rights of recreation there (page
7).
</ul><br>
<ul>
<li>Success in winning a public inquiry for the pernicious exchange of
land at Woodcock Hill village green, Borehamwood in Hertfordshire, and
victory in stopping intrusive fencing on Rhos Gelli Gron Common in
Ceredigion (page 8).
</ul><br>
<br><br>
<b>Attached: <i>Open Space</i>, summer 2021<br>
</b><br>
<div align="right"><b>ENDS<br>
</b></div>
<br>
<b>Notes for editors<br>
</b><br>
1. The Open Spaces
Society was founded in 1865 and is Britain’s oldest national conservation
body. It campaigns to protect common land, village greens, open
spaces and public paths, and people’s right to enjoy them.<br><br>
<br><br>
2 Town and village
green can be any land which has been enjoyed by local people for 20
years, without being stopped or asking permission. However, if a
landowner wishes voluntarily to register land as a green, he or she may
do so merely by providing proof of ownership and the consent of any
leaseholder or chargeholder. Once registered the land is protected
by section 12 of the Inclosure Act 1857 and section 29 of the Commons Act
1876, and local people have rights of recreation there.<br><br>
_____________________________________________________________<br><br>
CONTACT: Kate
Ashbrook: <br><br>
<a href="mailto:kateashbrook@oss.org.uk">kateashbrook@oss.org.uk</a><br>
<br>
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