BMC sees CLA report as backward step

The Country, Land & Business Association (CLA) have today released a report on their vision for the future of countryside access, but the BMC believes that this presents a partial and unrealistic view of access requirements today.

The report ‘The Right Way Forward: the CLA’s common Sense approach to access in the countryside’ presents their view of the current problems surrounding the Rights of Way system and wider access opportunities in England and Wales, and their desire to “modernise” the system.  It sets out a number of recommendations for Government to consider in order to improve public access for landowners and users, “whilst also offering savings for local Government”.

The BMC believes the report is an important contribution to the debate on a very complex area of law and the CLA is right in seeking to make it more transparent and comprehensible to all parties.  However, the CLA fails to recognise those parties that love to enjoy the countryside and recommend Government give greater support to permissive and voluntary access arrangements.  It is the BMC’s experience that permissive access agreements are often short lived, are not protected by changing agricultural and management practises, are poorly maintained and could lead to further bad feeling between the recreational user and the landowner.  In reality, the voluntary mechanisms, as advocated by the CLA, which theoretically allow greater access, have to date been ineffective in practice. 

Catherine Flitcroft, BMC Access & Conservation Officer said: “If Government were to accept many of the recommendations outlined in the report, the gap between the recreational user and the owner would be further widened.  It would remove the legal protection of many of our footpaths, ancient highways and green spaces we currently rely on.  How, when and where the public would be able to enjoy much of the countryside would be down to the will of the landowner”.

The BMC does not agree with the recommendations made in section 5 of the CLA report on ‘access to the coast and water’. The CLA remains concerned as to the extent of the coastal access provisions, in particular the provision of a coastal margin which includes the right to climb.  The report claims that “the designation of margin is causing an unfair burden on coastal landowners and businesses” believing that it does not take sufficient account of landowners’ rights and that “the lack of compensation means there is no check or balance”.  An integral part of Natural England’s coastal access scheme however, is that landowners have the opportunity to walk the area in question and raise any concerns with the authorities prior to any agreements being put in place.  Experience of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW) has also shown that fears of a major surge in use were unwarranted and the majority of problems with increased public access were perceived rather than actual problems.

Instead of a coastal margin, the CLA would have Government adopt the approach taken in Wales.  The Wales Coastal Path, by contrast, is simply what it says it is, a designated walking trail, mostly along existing Rights of Way. However, objections from landowners mean that in some places the Wales coast path turns inland to circumvent their property, sometimes by as much as two or three kilometers and does not provide for a right of access for those wishing to explore a coastal margin.

The BMC will oppose any attempts to undermine our access rights and will continue to lobby for the coastal access provisions to be rolled out in full around the whole of the English coast.  In Wales, we will continue to lobby the Welsh Assembly Government to match suit and extend their scheme to include a margin of coastal land where users can practice there recreation in a quiet, responsible way. 

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