CNCC response to APPG group on outdoor recreation
In May the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Outdoor Recreation held its inaugural meeting. This group, chaired by Andy McNae MP, with BMC, Paddle UK and the Ramblers as part of the group Secretariat, was established to review access to outdoor recreation. One of its first actions was to launch an inquiry to examine ideas for changes in policy and legislation that would enable more people to access green spaces and bodies of water.
As part of this inquiry, the APPG welcomed written submissions from individuals and groups, but were particularly interested in hearing from organisations representing a diverse range of outdoor activities.
The CNCC team was proactive in submitting a response ahead of the 20th July deadline.
Our full response will be published as part of the reports to our October meeting, but in summary, it introduced caving, our organisation and background, and the access issues we have faced, both historically and today.
Our message was clear that access to caves is confused at governmental levels, and while the BCA and CNCC believe, backed by legal opinion, that CRoW does apply to caving, this is not an opinion yet shared by DEFRA. We emphasize the benefits of governmental bodies taking a much wider interpretation of the legislation.
We highlighted the efforts CNCC volunteers undertake to preserve access agreements with landowners. However, access to hundreds of sites across our region on CRoW-designated land is still, in the opinion of DEFRA, entirely at the will of the landowners. This presents barriers to participation, poses risks to future access if attitudes or landowners change, creates work for volunteers, and undermines the original purpose of the CRoW Act.
We presented the need to see access to caves on non-CRoW land made a condition of landowners receiving public subsidy, citing the situation at High Birkwith where access is refused to several major caves, particularly important for introducing novices, despite the landowner receiving significant public money to maintain the land.
The benefits caving offer to those who get involved were highlighted, the community it creates, as well as the economic benefits to the local economy.
These are all factors that we emphasised in our response to the National Park Management Plan a few months ago, and we will continue to raise these on behalf of the northern caving community when other opportunities arise.