Media Interest

It's been a while since I last posted. I'm going to get back at it again, but I thought I should make a quick comment on a little article on countryside access that ran on Radio Ulster the other morning. It was about a right of way being blocked off by developers in the village of Broughshane, a village located outside Ballymena, and the fact that local people had cried foul and were attempting to have it reinstated. Good for them, hopefully it'll be open again before too long.

However, the second half of the article featured an interview with representatives. While the interviewer appeared clueless about the wider issues involved, the Ulster Ramblers rep (Alan McFarland I think, but I could be wrong - Update: turns out it was David Flinn - see comment below) did a nice job, with the limited time available, of drawing a contrast between the situation in GB and in Northern Ireland, especially in relation to activity tourism and the economic benefits that countryside access is bringing there.

By contrast, the Ulster Farmers representative didn't even attempt to engage at that level, instead listing the risks that farmers would face if people got access to their land. It was a rather depressing contribution. In an economic environment that is downright awful, especially in rural areas, the UFU guy displayed a complete lack of imagination or willingness to see any positive benefit to greater countryside access. This highlights the job of work that countryside activity advocates have to do in order to make progress with the farming and landowner types.

Again, David did nice job of arguing how a structured countryside access framework could actually minimise risk to landowners by making it clear where people can and cannot go (PRoWs do this very nicely). He also covered the recent unsuccessful attempt to reform the landowners liability legislation.