This article first appeared in the South Wales Caving Club newsletter for April 2018 and is reprinted here with kind permission from the author Gary Vaughan and the South Wales Caving Club. Gary wishes it to be known that the views expressed in this article represent his own personal views and not necessarily the…
A recent article in Descent based on a letter from Ashford Price, member of the Association of British and Irish Show Caves (ABIS), expresses the Associations strong objection to the BCA proposal to alter the present CRoW Act and states clearly that in their opinion any “amendment or change of interpretation of the CRoW Act” to…
The issue of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 continues to divide the caving community. As we reported early in January, Tim Allen has been lobbying MPs on behalf of the BCA, in the hope of getting DEFRA to change their interpretation of the law, even taking two on a visit to Gaping…
We brought you news last year about the threat of legal action from cavers Stuart France and Nigel Rogers and on the responses from both Natural Resources Wales and Drws Cefn landowner Pwlldu Conservation Limited. We understand in the latest development in this long running saga Stuart France has now issued a pre-action letter via his solicitors to Natural Resources Wales advising…
More Press coverage A publicised visit by two Members of Parliament to Gaping Ghyll was reported here a few days ago. The press release was greeted with much enthusiasm by those cavers keen to see caving accepted as a permitted activity on Open Access land. Two local newspapers have also published the story, The Craven…
Report by David Rose TWO Conservative MPs and a leading QC have paid a visit to Britain’s highest waterfall – the mighty cascade that tumbles down the 365-foot entrance shaft of Gaping Ghyll on Ingleborough in North Yorkshire. The two politicians, former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, MP for Howden and Haltemprice, and David Rutley,…
A good source for news on things that matter to mine explorers and historians is the NAMHO newsletter. The latest issue, for December 2015, has just been published. The theme and some details of the 2016 NAMHO conference in the Republic of Ireland are announced. If your society owns or leases a mine site, there…
The landowners who own access to the UK’s second longest cave, Ogof Draenan, have made it clear that they won’t be bullied by threats of legal action made by cavers Stuart France and Nigel Rogers In a post on UK Caving yesterday the landowners who between them own the land on which the entrances to Drws Cefn…
We reported on 24 November 2015 about the legal action threatened by cavers Stuart France and Nigel Rogers against Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and the landowner concerning their claim to have access rights to Drws Cefn under the CRoW legislation. In the latest development in this long-running issue, their solicitors have now been sent a…
Cavers Stuart France and Nigel Rogers are involved in the on-going dispute over closing or gating the Drws Cefn entrance to Ogof Draenen in South Wales. On the 20th November 2015 their solicitors, Richard Buxton of Cambridge, wrote to Natural Resources Wales, sending copies to the Pwll Du Management Group and also to the landowner….
