Government Threat to National Forests and Open Spaces

It wasn't that long ago that I commented on how the younger generation of the Ramblers are quite laissez-faire when it comes to issues of access and land ownership. I predicted there may come a time when our right to access green areas and open spaces will come under threat and that hopefully at that time the younger generations would heed the call and become more politically active in the Ramblers, as former members of the Ramblers did in order to win us those freedoms. Without the mass trespass on Kinder Scout in 1932 and the subsequent rights of way movement, which came out of that period, we would not have national parks, open access and long distance paths such as the Pennine Way, all of which are an essential part of our national heritage and what it means to be British.

The government has recently announced its plans to sell off all of the Forestry Commission land in the UK. Although the government has given assurances that rights of way and access to this land will not be affected, once these areas of land are under private ownership, what control will there be over usage? Remember this is the same government that promised not to increase tuition fees for students! This video article from the BBC provides more information.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12298513

On a similar note our own Ramblers Association is greatly concerned about the cuts in funding to local authorities, which will undoubtedly have a detrimental affect on the ability of local authorities to maintain rights of way. Already many councils have announced they are to dramatically cut funding to rights of way budgets. Because of the concern over the threat to our right to access, the Ramblers have launched the ‘Dead End?’ campaign, which is designed to highlight to local authorities the importance of rights of way to the people of the UK. You can help out by completing a post card giving details of a walk you have enjoyed recently with the club. We will then send these cards to the Ramblers HQ, who will then forward to the local authority concerned. I will be passing around post cards on walks over the next few weeks. Please do take the opportunity to complete at least one, so that we can fight to preserve our open spaces and rights of access for ourselves and generations to come.

Many Thanks

Andrew