Review of Access Issues

When access laws become an ass -

BMC Update -
Some recent developments, decisions and anecdotes should be causing concern in the climbing community. What follows is a brief review:

VIXEN TOR
Walkers and climbers have used the path to the crag and rambled and climbed there for years - well over the 20 years 'continuous use' that the law requires; the land is privately owned, and it was hoped it would be designated 'open access' under CRoW. In 2003 access was denied, and for the last eight years a fight to regain access has been going on. This has finally reached a conclusion, with the result that the representative bodies including the Ramblers and BMC failed to prove continuous access. The landowner submitted a letter which indicated that permission to use the land had been withdrawn at some point. The court found that this was evidence of a break in continuous access. The opportunity for landlords to ensure access is denied by providing written evidence of a break in use is clear.

Look at this link for the full story -
http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/For_bidden.htm

LULWORTH
Access to the western end of Lulworth Cove for deep water soloing has started to create concerns over the safety of the more numerous tourist vistors. The landowners are concerned that inquisitive members of the public will follow climbers, and get out of their depth! The grockles are finding the activities of the climbers a magnetic attraction and the owners are concerned that this could lead to an accident. An access ban is being considered.

COASTAL ACCESS
The result of the review at Lulworth could result in the diversion of the path and access to the coast for DWS denied. This supports the concerns raised by Pat Littlejohn that the Coastal Access laws may not actually give climbers access to the coast (as we know it) as the designated access land may be some distance from the cliff.

PEAK - CHEE TOR and Water-cum-Jolly
Recently Rick Gribbon, the BMC Peak North Access Rep., was having a stroll under Chee Tor as there have been issues with parking, litter, poaching and general overuse of the site. The site is managed by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust. The warden, who happened to be on the opposite bank, challenged Rick's presence and they had an awkward chat across the river during the course of which the issue of the abundance of shrubs and new growth trees was mentioned. Rick pointed out that these needed to be cut back, the Warden responded that it was their intention to allow the crag to revert to its natural state. As Ken Wilson, amongst many, has vigorously asserted new growth trees are a major problem at many crags.

Henry Folkard, Peak Access Volunteer, takes up the story : A local fishing fishing club manages the Water cum Jolly stretch and Derbyshire Wildlie Trust the Cheedale bit. We rely on both for access to crags since, despite the BMC registering a claim at trhe time of CROW, the banks are not open access. Access in Cheedale particularly is hugely sensitive. The fishing club employs a highly vigilant water bailiff. I found him on my doorstep, enraged. Happily though he had in this case come to my doorstep, and not the Police Station: we have met before. Three climbers (two certainly different people) had been found poaching in WcJ and Cheedale, happily for them in a fairly amateurish way. They were not helpful. It was suspected they were climbers because they were wearing climbing harnesses and were later seen to be working bolted routes.We agreed the BMC would use a 'grapevine' approach in an attempt to stop it happenning again, but do this in a relatively low key way. Going for major publicity was judged to be likely to be counter productive and we are still inclined not to publicise the incidents widely.We therefore put out various messages via web sites and pubs, and at the Area Meeting, and hope the message has got through that this is no joke. Any repetition will cost us crag access and a criminal record for the perpetrators. The Cornice is hugely popular when its dry, and this leads to lots of cars parked, all too often rather badly, in Wormhill,. The BMC recieved protestations from the Parish Council. The problem was exacerbated by parking at Millers Dale Station being blocked off by construction traffic for the Monsal Dale Trail. This is now complete, and very easy access to the Cornice can be gained via the Trail from either Milleres Dale or Topley Pike. So hopefully the Wormhill problem will ease. It matters for all sorts of reasons, not least that the person who owns the Cornice lives in Wormhill. He is not a good person to annoy. And he is big mates with the said water bailiff, who lives in one of his properties. And both of them are particularly friendly with the Derbyshie Wildlife Trust Reserve Manager who has her own problems with climbers. I made a tour recently with her, Niall Grimes and Alan James so they could hear all about preferred acces routes from the horses mouth, and I think the BMC's RAD database has up to date information on it. So that's a short answer to you question, though |I doubt it would help to publicise most of it more widely. Always happy to help if you want more information about Peak Access: the Peak National Park's Asset Review has spelt or is spelling major changes in ownership and / or management of Eastern Moors, Roaches, Stanage North Lees, Windgather - and for that matter Millers Dale Station.

Eastern Edges and The Roaches Estate
As I write this piece the issue of the sale of the Roaches and the ongoing management of the Eastern Edges is still unresolved. It seems, that due to the long standing and ongoing relationship, the National Trust are a climbers best ally, and the national Trust bid for the Roaches Estate is supported by the BMC. Pro-active involvement with the Landowners of the Eastern Edges has been decided to be the most effective strategy for conserving access to these important crags, and Crag Management Plans have been invented to support ongoing access. This is a constructive approach and will hopefully be successful. We should also be very concerned that following an asset review a National Park can determine to sell land; strapped for cash, or what! And this issue (sale of public land by a National Park) has been considered for a possible legal challenge.

What can we do?

Every crag is important - as climbing becomes more popular and increasing numbers of climbers move outside, increased pressure is exerted on a finite number of destinations.

On top of this is the pressure from all of the other recreational users, horse riders, mountain bikers, fliers, kayakers, off-roaders and walkers and runners, added to which is the loud voice of the minority who want to preserve what they see as natural habitat for wildlife, and the 'natural' environment. We must not be complacent ......

*Steve Scott - CC BMC Co-ordinator
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