After 20 years as chairman of the Open Spaces Society (OSS), Rodney Legg is to stand down. A conservationist and historian, Legg has been involved in the OSS since 1980 and he personally identified and claimed 700 acres of open country across the West Country as access land under new legislation.

Said Legg: “Two decades of chairmanship is plenty long enough for any national organisation.” Explaining that the OSS had been in existence since 1865, when it formed as the Commons Preservation Society, Legg continued: “Our predecessors seemed to stay forever. Then we went through a turbulent phase with three chairmen in one year. On the other hand, our chief executive – general secretary Kate Ashbrook – has been in post for a quarter of a century. So together we have brought a bit of old-fashioned stability.”

Rodney Legg is also stepping down as a council member of the National Trust – after a 19 year tenure. He felt that his work there is now done: “At least I feel I’ve achieved something, by campaigning for public access across a whole raft of their once virtually secret and unknown properties. These days, with Dame Fiona Reynolds and Sir Simon Jenkins in charge, it’s like kicking at an open door, so I’m well surplus to requirements.”
 
The trustees of the OSS will elect the new chairman from among their number at their meeting after the AGM.