The Open Spaces Society

Who we are

The Open Spaces Society was founded in 1865 and is Britain's oldest national conservation body. A charity and a pressure group, we campaign for new, tougher laws to protect common land, town and village greens, urban and rural open spaces, and public rights of way in town and country, throughout England and Wales. We give technical and practical advice on their law, protection, management, and administration. The society has some 2,000 members, consisting of local authorities at all levels, amenity and other organisations, and individuals, who look to it for help and advice. We rely for our income on membership subscriptions, donations, legacies, and grants. The society’s office is in Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. It has only the one office, and no branches. There are at present ten members of staff, most of them part-time: the general secretary, four case officers, commons re-registration officer, office manager, administrative assistant, and finance officer, and membership secretary. The society also employs contractors to cover other aspects of the society’s work. The organisation is headed by the general secretary. The society is governed by the trustees who meet monthly by videoconference and occasionally in person. They are elected by the annual general meeting of the society’s members in the summer, usually for a three-year term of office. The board has a finance committee, which oversees financial matters, a legal committee which advises on legal matters, authorises expenditure and makes recommendations to the trustees, and a general purposes committee which takes urgent decisions and undertakes other tasks as requested by the board. The society has 40 local correspondents who act on our behalf locally in various parts of England and Wales. They are appointed by the trustees on the recommendation of the general secretary

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

OSS-EDI-Statement.pdf