Keeping open spaces open

From a small office in South Oxfordshire, behind an opticians, the battle for England’s green and pleasant land continues.

The Open Spaces Society has been waging it for 150 years, in fact, with the Henley-based organisation now celebrating a landmark anniversary.

The campaigning group began its life in 1865 as the Commons Preservation Society, created to rescue Hampstead Common, along with other London commons that were being used for gravel pits and rubbish dumping.

But Long ago, it vastly expanded its remit to cover the whole of England and Wales, embracing all types of open spaces and public paths, to save millions of acres of land for the public.

In 1895, it went on to found the National Trust and as Britain’s oldest national conservation body, it can today proudly claim responsibility for much of the legislation that exists to protect pathways and our town and village greens.

Down the years, it has defended common land against a host of enemies: greedy landowners, ambitious developers, high-tech farmers and bracken and scrub. Last year alone, it took up about 600 cases, with numerous campaigns launched to preserve paths and defend open spaces.

Not bad for an organisation, based at 25a Bell Street, which employs just five people.

For 31 of its years of campaigning, the driving force and general secretary has been Kate Ashbrook, who has written a new book, Saving Open Spaces: The Campaign for Public Rights to Enjoy Commons, Green Spaces and Paths (Pitkin). In her view, the society’s activities down the years amount to “one of the most socially vital campaigns of the last century and a half”.

With the development of the green movement and such a plethora of environmental and conservation organisations, you might imagine the Open Spaces Society might have been, well, a bit crowded out.

But Ms Ashbrook, who is also president of the Ramblers’ Association, gives such a suggestion short shrift.

“The society is needed now more than ever as it fights a multitude of threats to open spaces and paths. New laws endanger village and town greens, commons are still threatened with encroachment, and a politically-motivated cut-off in 2026 is set to prevent the recording of thousands of miles of ancient public paths, unless we can get them on the map before then.”

She points out that to get its way, the society has adopted a whole mix of methods to champion its cause. Direct action was employed at Berkhamsted Common in Hertfordshire, where in 1866, Lord Brownlow’s fences were torn down.

The writer and naturalist Richard Mabey, vice president of the society, who can recall his boyhood in Berkhamsted, believes it was a turning point.

“No wonder the place still inspires local people, from butchers to bolshie conservationists. In 1966, the town carnival found more space for ‘the Battle of the Common’ than for William the Conqueror.”

But More commonly, the society has relied on the law: drafting legislation, such as the Rights of Way Act in 1932, and using court action to establish legal principle.

The big issue in its early days was stopping lords of manors enclosing commons. But By the mid 19th century, the pressures on commons shifted from agricultural exploitation to development.

“The society has continued to pride itself on going where others fear to tread,” observes Ms Ashbrook.

“The list of those who found themselves in the society’s sights because of blocked paths or unpleasant path diversions have included Nicholas Ridley, when he was still Conservative Environment Secretary, the oil magnate John Paul Getty II (Buckinghamshire), film producer David Puttnam (Wiltshire) Rolling Stone Keith Richards (West Sussex), the Rothschilds (Buckinghamshire), the Spencer estate (Northamptonshire) and Eton, Harrow and Oundle public schools. But most of the society’s objections were to unknown landowners and farmers.”

The Open Spaces Society’s headquarters were once incongruously in Shaftesbury Avenue, in the heart of theatre land. It only moved to Henley in 1978 at the suggestion of the society’s then secretary, Paul Clayden, who happened to live in the town. But As a county with about 129 registered commons, in all shapes and sizes, it was a fitting choice.

As well as the historic Port Meadow and Wolvercote Common, which together extend to 400 acres on the outskirts of Oxford, there are magnificent commons at Nettlebed and Ewelme.

It has been prominent in a number of local campaigns. In 1990, it objected when the Henley Regatta allowed one of the hospitality marquees to be placed over a public footpath, with Ms Ashbrook marching through in her shorts, asserting her right of way, to the dismay of the guests. The path was not blocked again.

“We have been delighted that village green law has been made in Oxfordshire,” she said. “High-profile cases in the House of Lords, at Sunningwell and Trap Grounds, Oxford, led to much-loved land being registered as village greens and protected from development – and to the law being strengthened for other communities wishing to register land.

“Currently, we are campaigning to claim an ancient route across the River Thame at Cuddesdon where there used to be stepping stones. If we succeed and can then persuade the county council to provide a crossing, the path will connect two dead-end routes which link to other paths and will open up new walking opportunities.”

Sietske Boeles, of the Friends of Warneford Meadow, said: “The Open Spaces Society gave us invaluable advice and support when we were seeking their legal advice back in 2006 on how to submit a town green application. We went on to achieve town green status.

“I know that other local groups have been seeking their advice using the Open Spaces Society’s legendary ‘evidence of use’ form, to provide evidence that use of the land has fulfilled the requirements of the legislation.

“It is an organisation that has been operating on a shoestring but it has helped transform many communities.”

The 1965 Commons Registration Act defined village greens as, among other things, land on which local people enjoyed informal recreation “as of right” for at least 20 years.

But The society says a major setback has come with the 2013 Growth and Infrastructure Act, claiming that the act outlaws the registration of land as a green if it is threatened by development.

Ms Ashbrook uses the new book to remind everyone that the National Trust is still regarded as the society’s baby, with the trust created as it was realised that the best way of protecting open spaces was to own the land.

The society provided the trust’s first office and initially raised money so the trust could purchase threatened land.

“The National Trust overtook the society in strength,” said Ms Ashbrook. “But we continue to keep an eye on our baby to ensure its land and public access to it are in good order.”

Friends of the Open Spaces Society would expect nothing less after 150 years.