Sustainability Committee

Inquiry into access to inland water in Wales

Re :- Sustainability Committee’s inquiry into access to inland water in Wales

I represent the Bucks County Scout Canoe Club and we are regular users of a small number of rivers in Wales as part of our ongoing programme of kayak and canoe instruction for Scouts from across Buckinghamshire. As such we regularly seek to use rivers in Wales for canoe and kayak trips for our young people but we are currently very restricted in the availability of such rivers due to the lack of clarity over the access situation and the very limited number of voluntary access agreements. As you will appreciate, when in charge of a group of young people, particularly when taking part in  an “adventurous activity” such as white water kayaking, risk assement is a key element of our preparation and currently the use of sections of river without clear definitions of access, particularly if this lack of clarity could lead to conflict with other users or potential breaches of the law, is too high a risk to consider, effectively limiting our use to those few rivers in Wales with clear access agreements.

We are therefore very interested in the inquiry your committee has initiated and would like to take this opportunity to submit information and answers in response to the questions you have raised.

I have attached to this letter our answers to the specific questions in your inquiry letter but would also be pleased to supply additional information if required.

Yours sincerely,

Garry Miller

Bucks County Scout Canoe Club.

Questions for the access to inland waterways inquiry.

What is your interest in the issue of access to inland waterways?

Bucks County Scout Canoe club is a recreational user of Welsh rivers for the purpose of introducing young people and associated  adult leaders to canoeing and kayaking, particularly white water kayaking, for which Welsh rivers are well suited. We undertake a number of trips each year to white water rivers in Wales for introduction, training and assessment of young people in the skills of white water paddling for the purposes of youth development.

Are you a member of an organisation related to your use of water?

Yes, I represent the Bucks Scout Canoe Club, which exists to promote the activities of canoeing and kayaking amongst young people, within the wider remit of the Scout association.

Which stretch/es of water do you own/use/manage?

The canoe club is currently effectively restricted to the use of those stretches of Welsh rivers with a clear access agreement, due to the unacceptable risk associated with potential illegal or confrontational use of rivers without such clear agreements. This effectively restricts our use to parts of the River Usk, parts of the River Wye plus the specific white water centres at Llangollen on the Dee and the National white water centre at the Tryweryn. Although these sites are useful they represent only a very small minority of the potential rivers in Wales that we could use for our purposes.

Legal rights

Are you happy that your legal rights are clear and well defined?

No.

Can you briefly outline your understanding of your legal rights over the stretch of water/s that you own/use/manage?

Legal rights are very unclear at the moment, apparently governed by a mixture of common law derived from Magna Carter and later legal precedent mixed in with interpretations of Victorian land ownership and fishing rights agreements. As a result there is no real clarity of ownership which can, and has,  led to conflicts between various user groups which is unacceptable when considering the needs of a youth group.

Due to the lack of clarity over legal rights we are effectively restricted to those few stretches of river e.g. the Usk above Brecon where clear agreements on use are in place and thus legal rights are clear. The legal status on other rivers is sufficiently unclear as to render them to “high risk” for our purposes, thus effectively denying our access to these rivers.

Would you like to see any changes to your legal rights?

Yes.

If yes, what changes would you like to see?

We would like to see a clear presumed right of access to rivers with associated responsibilities for un-powered craft and other un-powered  recreational users, equivalent to that that exists in Scotland and virtually every other country in Europe.

Are you aware of any legislation that exists in other countries that could be used in Wales?

As stated above we are aware of effective legislation on access in other countries in particular Scotland, France, Scandinavia and indeed most of the rest of Europe. In the majority of these cases access to rivers for un-powered craft is a basic right, but with associated responsibilities to use such access responsibly.

Voluntary agreements?

Do you have any experience of voluntary agreements for access to the stretch of water/s you own/use/manage

Yes

If yes, please briefly outline the agreements that exist and your experience of how they operate.

We are familiar with, and indeed take advantage of the voluntary access agreement to parts of the River Usk. However this is very much the exception for access to rivers in Wales and, generally, it is effectively impossible to secure negotiated access due  to the complex legislation on ripararian ownership requiring simultaneous agreement with all the landowners on both sides of any stretch of river. The objections of just one owner on any stretch of river for whatever reason is sufficient to effectively negate any negotiated access. As a result very few rivers in Wales have such agreements, and even the ones that do exist have restrictions that often serve to further limit the use of the river, particularly for visiting groups.

Would you like to see any changes to the voluntary agreements?

Yes

If yes, what changes would you like to see?

Their effective replacement by a generic right of responsible access similar to that that exists in Scotland and the majority of other European countries.

Are you aware of any voluntary arrangements in other countries that could be used in Wales?

As stated above the Scottish access legislation appears to us to constitute a valid base model for equivalent legislation in Wales

Please can you briefly outline what you think are the key issues for recreational access to inland water in Wales and how you would like to see them addressed.

The key issue for us is the removal of uncertainty over legal access to Welsh rivers in order to open up access to the wide variety of rivers for recreational access. Removal of uncertainty would also remove the potential for conflict between user groups as appears to be happening in some locations currently as each user group seeks to impose its own view of the legal situation on the other. The risks of such conflict situations are unacceptable to a youth group such as ours and thus the current situation is a very definite restriction on our activities in Wales.

The current uncertain situation leads to under use of this important leisure resource and consequent loss of revenue for Wales and loss of opportunity to young people that we represent and leisure users in general. It also leads to a concentration on limited resources where clear access is available with the consequent potential for over use at these limited locations.

All of these issues could effectively be addressed by the adoption by the Welsh assembly Government of access legislation similar to that already in place in Scotland.