Comment

THE sentiment behind the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (CROW) may have sounded very crusading and egalitarian but as is often the case, the reality is not so impressive.

In this part of the world there is a mixture of land ownership resulting in a variety of access regulations. Ilkley Moor for instance is partly owned by the council, making it open access for all. There is also private moorland with public rights of way across and the vast Duke of Devonshire estate at Bolton Abbey, which is criss-crossed, not only with rights of way but also a myriad of access agreement paths which the owners have implemented.

Other land, belonging to farmers, is also accessible along definitive footpaths and bridle ways which have existed for centuries. The countryside and attitudes towards it have changed irrevocably since the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass of 1932. Landowners no longer view the hiking public with the same horror as the Roman Emperors regarded the Vandals, Visigoths, Huns and other barbarian hordese.

It would be hard to find anywhere pleasant in the whole of Wharfedale where access has been a traditional problem. There may of course be some obscure bog on a privately-owned moor somewhere which hikers had only dreamed about tramping around until last year, but it seems unlikely. If the public had been barred from areas like Strid Wood, Barden Fell, Otley Chevin, Rawdon Billing, Simon's Seat, The Twelve Apostles, and Middleton Woods, then there would have been a pressing need for the CROW Act.

But that simply wasn't the case. Eastby Crag has seen more traffic since the bother of having to telephone for permission to climb on it but making one telephone call was hardly as daunting as one of the 12 Labours of Heracles, and no-one can remember Bolton Abbey estate ever saying no.

As the evidence suggests that the CROW Act made such little difference, why then did we need it, or the vast army of bureaucrats to administer it - often badly - and the vast expense from the public purse on its implementation?

8:19am Thursday 27th December 2007

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