Open spaces UK news

• Frome residents win five-year battle for community-led housing project, theguardian.com (Jan 23, 2025) — “What’s really exciting for me is that it’s not actually about the amount of commercial space or the affordable housing it will provide – it’s about the sense of confidence and agency and possibility that I think it will give us as a community.” Fiona Barrows, Frome town councillor
• Public assured access to a green 'haven of peace', BBC News (Jan 22, 2025)

• A radical British politics rooted in nature is spreading – and the establishment doesn’t like it. John Harris, theguardian.com (Apr 21, 2024)

• ‘A win for nature and those who love it’: the Dartmoor ruling – and why it matters, positive.news (Aug 04, 2023)
• Your favourite walk may have an expiry date, The Conversation (Apr 17, 2023)
• London to gain new garden in the sky, as the Camden Highline gets green light, camdenhighline.com (Jan 20, 2023) — Planning approval has been granted for the first section of the Camden Highline, running from Camden Gardens to Royal College Street. It will see the transformation of a section of disused railway into a new elevated urban park for London. The project is now set to offer much-needed green space to underserved communities, while creating a new global attraction for London, akin to New York’s High Line.

• Money to grow: radical policy helps UK communities green their own spaces, The Guardian (Nov 25, 2022)
• Neighbourhood green space is in rapid decline, deepening both the climate and mental health crises, The Conversation (May 18, 2022)
• Green space access is not equal in the UK – and the government isn’t doing enough to change that, The Conversation (Feb 25, 2022)

• They want to build a theme park here? Swanscombe peninsula, Britain's newest protected place, Dec 29, 2021...^[1]
• One quarter of English councils have plans to rewild. Does yours? May 19, 2021...^[2]
• Sounding the alarm on disappearing natural beauty. CPRE's latest research shows that England's Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are under increasing threat from badly-planned housing. Apr 22, 2021...^[3]

References

Councillors revolt over government plans to dismantle planning system, CPRE Kent, Dec 10, 2020...^[1]

• Johnson urged to extend public's right to roam over English countryside, Nov 30, 2020...^[2]
• England's not so green and pleasant land: millions can only access green space size of garden shed.^[3] Sep 16, 2020
• Britain needs a National Nature Service to power a green recovery.^[4] Jul 7, 2020
• London becomes the world's first National Park City...^[5] Jul 23, 2019.
• Green spaces and community assets, new models for new developments...^[6] May 2, 2019.
• It's official: London will become the world's first National Park City, Feb 10, 2018...^[7]

References

• Shock figures reveal park life at an all-time low, Nov 5, 2017...^[1]
• Government launches New Parks Action Group "to help England's public parks and green spaces meet the needs of communities now and in the future.", 2017...^[2]
• Support growing for National Park bid (which could bring £90m funding to Dorset), May 18, 2017...^[3]
• Parks are a huge asset, and we need to value them for the 21st century, Alison Benjamin, Feb 14, 2017...^[4]
• The UK's top 10 greenest cities, Jan 16, 2017...^[5]
• How green is your city? UK's top 10 mapped and ranked, Jan 5, 2017...^[6]
• A slice of the Big Apple coming to a neighbourhood near you, November 7, 2015...^[7]

References