The English tradition of common land is a physical representation of collective interest that defies exclusive and privatising practices.
'People may not know what a common is, but they have some sense of its survival through history, perhaps that the land once belonged to the people, and they want to keep it that way.'
This comes from new guidance for assessing the community value of common land, prepared by Kate Ashbrook and Nicola Hodgson for The Open Spaces Society.
It's full of fascinating insight and some individual reflections like this:
'Zoar Common is the link between my home and the high moorland and is welcoming, familiar, territory where I‟m most likely to meet near neighbours coming and going, exchanging a few friendly words and keeping in touch with local matters.'
The guidance is intended
to identify mechanisms to recognise and take account of local community interests on commons, hence complementing established criteria used in assessing national importance of land for interests such as nature con-servation and landscape. The intention is not that community interests should be graded or weighed and balanced against national interests, but rather that they should be given proper recognition and attention when considering man-agement on a common, seeking to integrate local and national aspirations within management frameworks. Specifically, the purpose of the commission was to provide information to enable the user or practitioner to:
i be aware of issues relating to the community interests of common land,
ii assess the importance of common land to local neighbourhoods,
iii engage with communities and understand their perspectives,
iv incorporate community concerns in any scheme examining the future and management of commons.
