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Outdoor Access Code HOMEPAGE
Draft Scottish Outdoor Access Code:
How are the responses to going to be assessed and
by whom?
Editorial
(Filed 03 Oct 03)
© www.land-care.org.uk
Land-Care is informed by SNH that they have 12
of their own staff analysing the responses to their own Draft Scottish
Outdoor Access Code (1) and categorising theses
responses according to content. Land-Care has also been told that
SNH will appoint a single "independent" person to review
the process. The Access Forum will not be reviewing individual responses
but the digest prepared by SNH staff.
The nature of the analysis of the responses and
the findings will be made into a report prepared by SNH, but will
only be available to the public after the next draft of the Code
has been completed and submitted to ministers. The clock by then
is already ticking to the countdown when the Scottish Parliament
has to give a yes or a no to the revised draft code - possibly 30
days in all. Thus, if the public do not care for the next version
of the Code they will have very little time to digest it and lobby
the Scottish Parliament.
This puts a lot of trust in SNH - but have they
earned it? There is major concern that the balance of membership
of the Access Forum is in favour of access takers rather than access
providers - a concern that is repeatedly expressed in the responses
to the draft Code. The constituion of the Access Forum has been
put out to consultation but no conclusions have yet been reached.
A review of the proceedings of the SNH Conference in 2000 entitled
"Access to the Countryside" describes how unacceptably
biased SNH can be in trying to achieve its ideological and political
ends (2, 3, 4).
Why should they be trusted now?
What is Land-Care's contribution to better openness and communication?
Land-Care will try and post on its website the
full unedited responses of those organisations and persons who are
willing to send us electronic versions of the responses that they
submitted to SNH. At the least this should help in the education
process that is so necessary for an Access Code to be a source of
agreement rather than conflict. For education to be effective the
information on which it is based need to be openly available and
discussed.
www.land-care.org.uk
References
1. Scottish Natural Heritage (2003).
Draft Scottish Outdoor Access Code.
www.snh.org.uk
2. Irvine, James (2003). Scottish
Natural Heritage Conference 2000 - Access to the Countryside. Report
and update.
Reproduced with permission from LandCare Scotland (2001): vol
1 pp 25-31.
See Land Reform HOMEPAGE, Filed 22 January 03, www.land-care.org.uk,
Click
here to view.
3. Mylius, Andrew (2002). Access:
the reality for farmers, landowners, foresters and all rural residents.
Reproduced with permission from LandCare Scotland (2001): vol
1 pp 3-18.
See Land Reform HOMEPAGE, Filed January 2002, www.land-care.org.uk,
Click
here to view
4. Irvine, James (2003). Scottish
Natural Heritage's policy on access: is it being mis-sold in relation
to enclosed land next to urban communities?
Reproduced with permission from LandCare Scotland (2001): vol
1 pp 19-23.
See Land Reform HOMEPAGE, Filed 7January 03, www.land-care.org.uk,
Click
here to view.
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