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I'm posting this, as both a hillwalker and an off-road cycle tourer. There is a well established cycle route from Glasgow to Cape Wrath. www.anturasmor.co.uk A locked gate has appeared near Cashel Dhu, overlooked by Ben Hope. There has always been a track at this location. In fact the 'Postie' would use it from Loch Eriboll. Please consider if you feel a locked gate on a walking/cycling route is within the letter of the access legislation? If you are unhappy with this please contact matt.dent@highland.gov.uk
Or call him on
01408635377
He's the access officer. The law is clear here, a locked gate on existing track can only be allowed if a reasonable alternative is made available. The landlord knows this but across Scotland they are testing the will of access rights folk. If we don't complain loudly all the work we've done in the past is wasted. I urge you to contact the access officer who has the statutory right to force the issue
Has there been an increase in access issues north of the border, or are they just getting more publicity on here recently?
Serious question, we often look enviously at Scottish access laws and tend not to think there must be lots of these local disputes going on.
There have always been some issues. I know of a couple locally that have been going for years. But I have seen more locked gates this year than I remember seeing before. Presumably due to increased traffic.
I guess the issue here is that the access office hasn’t “forced the issue”. Before flooding his inbox, do we know if he’s had time to sort this and it’s not just somebody taking to social media because an issue wasn’t fixed immediately?
The route is even shown on google maps!
I'd say there have been a few more incidents in the past year or so. Partly increased footfall due to staycation, partly also due to lots of routes being more publicised. There has also been a bit of an influx of folk from outwith Scotland, buying land and houses and perhaps not appreciating the access regulations here.
Off on a tangent, but the relatively small number of access issues in Scotland despite the more liberal rules indicate to me that the rules work really, really well.
Has there been an increase in access issues north of the border, or are they just getting more publicity on here recently?
More people out and about, so more conflict.
Also more idiots out and about, and more understandably pissed of landowners. Also some landowners take any opportunity to restrict access.
A handful of estates and landowners have been making attempts to use Covid as an excuse to restrict access by building and locking new gates across existing trails here in Angus. Unfortunately our local access officer is as much use as a chocolate fireguard and avoids confrontation at all costs, seems to think that his role is to support landowners in restricting access. Basically, will not take up awkward challenges that in almost every other council area would have been resolved fairly quickly.
There are certainly more folk out and about and in response, estates are flexing muscles. It's a pity, as we could do so much more by sharing the land resources that we have, land that in most cases can be demonstrated to have been 'stolen' from local communities at some point in history.
Interesting views. Always likely to be idiots on both sides upsetting the other, but certainly seems to work on the whole
It might be the case that the locked gates are to stop people going in with their campers and 4x4s with tents on the roof. I know this had become a bit of a problem last year, more than usual.
On Skye, a farmer friend of mine told me there were some camper folk who opened a gate and set up camp where they pleased in his field. When confronted by him they told him to check the access rules and that they can go where they want. He told them that they have until he finishes his supper to get out of his field or he locks the gate, and that there was no phone reception in the area so they won't be able to phone for help. They had gone by the time he came back out.
I also know about a campervan that got stuck in a ford on a hydro track which took 2 hours to get out. Once the hydro workers freed the camper they had to reverse out 1km as the only turning place available was just past the ford.