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Can someone explain the current state of access to the Porridge pots / Aldershot G2 area please?
On Gov.uk a lot of days it says "open to the public": https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/south-east-training-estate-firing-times/aldershot-ranges-firing-times-august-2025
But if you go there, there's a no-entry sign where people clearly go around the fence. What military bye-laws actually apply here? Is it legal to enter the land but the MOD is making life difficult for some reason? Or is it really illegal to enter this site despite gov.uk saying it's open to the public?
I found threads from some years ago talking about access difficulties but the situation today seems unclear.
I ride there most months, I access via the gate near the canal, if the gate is open then I go in, if it’s locked I stick to the Tunnel Hill area, I don’t bother checking as there’s always options in the area. If that’s the fence by the canal that people go around, it’s because it’s the nearest access/exit point from the Tunnel Hill end rather than a way to circumnavigate the locked gate (if the army are on a closed off exercise I imagine they’d chuck you out pretty quickly). I don’t normally use it as it’s a case of hold bike in one hand and hang on with the other, and a much more tricky manoeuvre with an eeb.
There’s a gate just a bit further up the canal, and two at the top end. It’s annoying that this old entrance/exit is closed off (though possible to get round).
I feel it is a logistical rather than malicious choice by the mod, the 3 openable gates are easily accessible by vehicle- this bit down the bottom is not without either a long driving detour, or a walk.
I ride Porridgepot quite regularly but only when the gates are open (I don't do the canal hack around the outside of the fence by the lock). I always check with the MOD website to see whether it is supposed to be open. If the gates open I go in, Btw, sometimes the website will say it's open but all the gates are closed so the website isn't 100% accurate. I usually ride in from the Camberley direction along the fire road parallel with the Maultway. There are 2 gates at that top area and sometimes only one of the two is open (usually the RH one). I often ride in from that top area, do some riding in there then exit through the bottom canal gate and go into Tunnel Hill,,,, then do the reverse to head home. HTH
There was a group trying to engage with the DIO to enable better access to the fenced off areas, but it seems to be like talking to a brick wall.
Military byelaws apply so if you're in there when closed it's technically more than just trespass (civil law), though plenty have been in when supposedly shut and there's either no activity or have come across army and they've not said anything.
As for going round the fence when the gates are open, I have no problem with that. The only law there would be if you were to mess with the fence to gain access which could be seen as criminal damage. That point should have been a gate as it was a common access point and the main gate is a long detour, but I can see the hassle for them to go to that point to open/close a gate. Though they never use the lands south of Brunswick Road, so they should have put a fence line up by the road IMO and leave the bomb holes and north path on the canal accessible.
As for legal right of access, it comes under access land in the MoD world, and a lot of the lands in that area are common lands acquired from the public by the MoD in war time etc with the assurance that the public will have access when not in use. There's been endless argument with MoD about that when they put the fences up at Pots which at least got them to reluctantly open the place to the public "when not in use". Originally it was going to be off limits entirely. In use counts as when the place is booked out, but they can book out the whole day but only use it for a short period or only a small area, or not at all if they change their minds but it will stay shut that day.
What's annoying though is Pots is far less used than Tunnel Hill, but Pots gets the closures. They can't close off TH because it has public rights of ways going through it and it's more complex/costly to fence off. Plus the real reason for the fences at Pots could be argued was to delimit it with the house building in Deepcut, prevent the dog shitters from wandering in there from the SANGS.