This month, Kate Ashbrook celebrates the fortieth anniversary of her appointment as General Secretary of the OPEN SPACES SOCIETY, Founded in 1865, it’s Britain’s oldest national conservation organisation. She is the longest-serving chief executive officer among bodies dedicated to the amenities and freedom of the countryside.
In her time in office – an attic in Henley-on-Thames – she has worked for and welcomed remarkable changes in the safeguarding of commons, greens, and public paths. They are the objects of the society’s care, and people’s right to enjoy them, throughout England and Wales.
Kate says, “We now have a right of access to all registered commons, and many town and village greens are registered and protected against development as never before. That was not true when I took the job. Public paths do not yet have the protection they deserve.
“Too often they are closed or moved at the whim of landowners. And there are local authorities whose record in failing to keep these country lifelines open is disgraceful. Worse still the Westminster government is determined to abolish hundreds of miles of unrecorded, historic paths in less than seven years’ time. I foresee plenty of fighting ahead, and I hope to be in the thick of it.”
The organisation Kate runs is tiny, with a staff of only nine (mostly part-time), and 45 volunteer local vigilantes spread around England and Wales. She added, “I am proud of them all. We back them with training and advice: the law relating to commons, greens, open spaces, and public highways is complex and not easy to navigate.
“An email to the Henley office from any of our volunteers or other members always gets a swift and constructive response. Our volunteers know that when the chips are down the society is always ready to go to law, to the supreme court if need be. Our record of legal victories is a distinguished one.”
Pic: Kate on Cobstone Hill, Ibstone, in the Buckinghamshire Chilterns.
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