Hugh Craddock

Living in Surrey and working for the Open Spaces Society. Married with two horses. Now on Bluesky @pannageman

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

Wild camping <is> lawful on Dartmoor: Supreme Court has the final word. S.10 of the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 does confer a right to wild camp, subject to compliance with byelaws and restrictions. Blog about judgment: Wild about camping https://t.co/tRja8TqD87

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

Corner Drove & Brazen Street today confirmed added to definitive map as restricted byways on historical evidence (including 25 years of LA maintenance) at Ware in east Kent, following apps by BHS in 2019. Intersect here: https://t.co/eg0lO9epqx Background: https://t.co/0AOQBgzzUT

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

@cllrLisaScott @SirGeogy Spend a bit more time in Exeter. It has many alleyways as well as delightful urban-fringe paths. Like many city boroughs, there were originally no definitive map and statement, & so few city paths are recorded, such as supposedly the narrowest in Britain: https://t.co/G4UzOu9IG3

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

@parachutemind We were delighted when the last Government announced that…

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

@SW_Help Perhaps you could pass them a copy and then post their reply here?

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

@semaphorist I take some comfort from learning that he is 'Not followed by anyone [I'm] following'.

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

@Feargal_Sharkey NRW visited only around 200 farms despite obviously-widespread non-compliance, ‘it attended just 29% of the incidents that were reported to it’, and budget and staffing levels are being further cut from already-insufficient levels. I can confidently predict direction of travel.

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

@WlStoke_Lodge @CampaignerKate @bristol247 @bearded It’s a decision to make an order to record four footpaths. There presumably will be objections, and the orders will be referred to the Secretary of State, whose inspector will decide whether to confirm the orders.

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

It was John Prescott who made the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 happen. Michael Meacher was committed to the new statutory access rights in Part I — but only JP had the political levers to pull in no.10 to overcome its instinctive aversion to taking on the landowners.

[Kate Ashbrook @CampaignerKate]

I am grateful to the late John Prescott for two things in particular, his announcement 29 Sep 1999 that @NewForestNPA & @sdnpa would be national parks, and his leadership on the Countryside & Rights of Way Act with greater freedom to roam @Campaign4Parks @RamblersGB

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

@UKSupremeCourt While you’re about making the UKSC ‘more accessible and open’, how about making wifi available for visitors’ (and not just lawyers’) use — without relying on commercial paid-for networks?
https://t.co/jjOYgjMHDm

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

@guyshrubsole @AmiesPhilip @Scorhill They’re available now!
https://t.co/TIu3f9eKlw
I understand that HMRC has decided not to pursue any appeal.

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

@Phil_M_Barrett @OrdnanceSurvey A line of pretty-arbitrarily selected tracks along and on/off the North Downs, labelled 'Supposed Pilgrims' Way' (as if even the OS was sceptical), heading to/from Canterbury and the Channel coast.
Some of the tracks undoubtedly are ancient: others…

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

@gilles_laurent_ @SBBTrainDriver Network Rail aussi.

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

@NetworkRailWssx @SW_Help How is this ‘upgrading’? Are you offering shorter journey times than historically was achievable? Or some other improvement (other than putting right what has been allowed to deteriorate)?

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

@paulpowlesland Not just picnicking. What about rock climbing or wild swimming? Or plain sitting down? And wheelchair or tramper users — they’re not on foot, are they? Are they to lose their access to Dartmoor?

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

@LindaHurrell @Right_2Roam @openspacessoc No: it’s common land subject to commoners’ grazing rights, so the owner can do virtually nothing with the land. Which is why the power to prohibit camping is grandstanding.

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

@Chris5NA Could be anything up to a year. But probably less.

[Hugh Craddock @PannageMan]

Today's #wildcamping case starts in the @UKSupremeCourt, court 2. A short point of statutory interpretation. Lord Reed says court has not found assistance in submissions suggesting interpretation can rely on proceedings in Parliament on Dartmoor Commons Bill in 1984–85.