Author Topic: Lost in a field of maize  (Read 1910 times)

barewirewalker

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Lost in a field of maize
« on: 08:01:28, 21/08/18 »
Last week Mrs BWW and I took a walk in South Cheshire, the week before we had enjoyed a circular route involving part of the South Cheshire Way and some of the nearby canal towpath and I had noticed some interesting interesting contours on the map north of Wrenbury, it is in fact a shallow valley formed by the infant River Weaver. I planned a route to give us a circular walk north of the canal, exploring this feature and then using connecting rights of way that avoided the highway to return to the canal and a mile or so walk back to Wrenbury, where we had booked in to the Dusty Miller. On our previous walk we had discovered this excellent canal side pub and been very impressed with the meal we enjoyed there.

On the outward part of the walk we ran into fields of maize, which had been quite blatantly planted across the rights of way, with no recognition that they would obstruct people using the access network in that part of the county.
Having guided Mrs BWW through the maize by getting her to hold onto my waist and put her head down between my should blades to protect her face and eyes from the edges of the maize leaves, we emerged and quite happily claimed to be lost. I say this as I feel that if the occupiers of the countryside can play 'fast and loose' with the 'Righteous Way', why should I respect any arrogant notions of private land.
However we did become re-united with the righteous way by accident only to be blocked by yet another field of maize. By which time we were running late and at risk of being more than reasonably late for our booking at the Dusty Miller. So we sought help from a local holding where a very elderly ex-Farmer put us onto a route back that avoided further encounters with maize crops.

I put in a footpath obstruction report about the field of maize and wrote an email to East Cheshire Council about my experience, with request that it was read out in public meeting at their Local Access Forum. I got an automated reply to the first and a polite, but firm answer to the second, which seems like a bureaucratic brush off.

 I do not think the members of the East Cheshire Local Access Forum will be learning of my experience.

The reply to my email stated what the LAF was all about, which I already had I good idea as I spent the best part of 5 years on the Shropshire version of this statutory body, before it changed it's name.

Whilst Mrs BWW and I were enjoying our unofficial wander around some delightful countryside, a body with the interests of all those, who should benefit from access network, might just think "What iff".

A careful look at the map might reveal some more important points. We encountered the maize obstruction just west of Chorely Hall at SJ 57807 49773. If you follow back the various lines of cross country routes that converge on this point you could go right back to Bunbury, even Northwich or Nantwich, and bring in the natural features there are within the surrounding countryside,
so it is quite possible that all sorts of linear routes could be created.

Why would they be linear????????????????? because there is a station on the main line at Wrenbury.
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

rural roamer

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Re: Lost in a field of maize
« Reply #1 on: 08:24:35, 21/08/18 »
That reminds me, I never got a response from the report I put into rights of way in Suffolk about rapeseed blocking a path.  I did check on the website after the 28 days but couldn’t see an easy way of chasing it up and then forgot about it. Of course by now the problem will be long gone, till next time.

barewirewalker

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Re: Lost in a field of maize
« Reply #2 on: 10:18:42, 21/08/18 »
It seems that local authorities are ill equipped to deal with obstructive growers.
 Before the 1949 Act there were rights of way, though not in the form that this Act transform them. Then the landowner instructed the farmer as part of his tenancy agreement to keep them clear, now of course more landowners are identifying themselves as farmers to lessen any future burden with estate duty. They are proving to be poor custodians of our countryside as the ever growing leisure industry plays a greater part in both the rural economy as well as the national economy.
It is high time that the Local Authorities started to recommend stringent action for non-compliance and bring in fining offenders. The ultimate responsibility should be the landowner, therefore the financial burden should not fall on the farming business but on that business that holds the freehold. This may not make much difference to smaller owner occupiers, but it would shift the responsibility to that of land management. A greater awareness of their responsibilities outside of the boundaries of their properties and might make freeholders integrate better with the wider community.

The example above shows that it is possible even probable that obstruction can reach further that a few ramblers being inconvenienced on short circular walks and bring no custom into the local businesses.

Had our obstruction been OSR we would not have got any further, we would have had to walk due west for more than half a mile rather than north.
 
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

gunwharfman

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Re: Lost in a field of maize
« Reply #3 on: 15:39:05, 22/08/18 »
I had trouble with maize when I hiked a section of Offas Dyke a couple of months ago. It was taller than me so I put my glasses on and my hood, the leaves I think could do serious eye damage if not careful. In this field the official footpath went straight though for about half a mile.

Roburite

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Re: Lost in a field of maize
« Reply #4 on: 23:00:14, 22/08/18 »
It happened to me this week and although the weather was dry it had rained overnight so I got soaked by pushing through the stalks. The line of the path seemed to follow the rows of corn but after a while the rows went off at a right angle and I got hopelessly lost. I just hope that the farmer notices all the broken stalks and realises why. (Now I'm going to write a report to the county footpath officer)

Roburite

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Re: Lost in a field of maize
« Reply #5 on: 23:22:25, 22/08/18 »
I've just reported my maize field  and can report that Devon Council have a very easy to use system on their website for reporting RoW problems. It uses an interactive map so you can locate where it is. The only difficulty is that it uses OSM rather than OS and it doesn't know map references so you have to interpret the kinks in the roads and paths. I have included my email address so hopefully I will get feedback.

barewirewalker

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Re: Lost in a field of maize
« Reply #6 on: 10:20:16, 24/08/18 »
In recent years I have been walking in mid-Wales during the late summer so had not realised how prevalent maize obstruction has become. Some years ago I passed up a chance to make an issue of this form of obstruction near Hanmer in north Shropshire, but that was before this easier form of of reporting, GWM is right to point out that the leaves of maize might cause injury.
The more serious injuries caused by livestock get attention, but will it be long before such obstruction as this leads to some more serious incident.

As an aside, I have passed comment on the part the landowner's lobby group has played in attitudes toward access. Harry Cotterell's 2012 policy on access so down sized the importance of the access network as part of country life that it probably has played a role in fostering the attitudes, which lead to this form of obstruction.
During my conversation with one farmer I understood that he was a tenant on the Cholmondely Estate, look at the map in relation to the location of my complaint and the location of this estate. How widespread is this attitude of growers in that area and where is the example coming from?
The second obstruction we encountered was 2/3 of a mile from our first, but we turned aside from this one. Were these fields the same grower, big estates are merging their enterprises and employing the once farm tenants as contractors?

Rather than be grateful to an electorate that has allowed their prime asset to grow from under £50 per acre to over £10,000 per acre over my lifetime, landowners are doing their best to keep us out of our countryside. The reason this is happening is a major shift in farming policy to save paying tax.
« Last Edit: 10:24:49, 24/08/18 by barewirewalker »
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

Toxicbunny

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Re: Lost in a field of maize
« Reply #7 on: 23:10:00, 05/09/18 »
Do councils actually do anything. I've reported numerous broken styles in my area I climb under a barbed wire fence through nettles as the style is inaccessible. I reported it again and still nothing. Another style is broken covered in barbed wire where you need to put your hand. I also reported on the path watch app. Nothing is ever done by the ROW.

barewirewalker

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Re: Lost in a field of maize
« Reply #8 on: 11:44:44, 06/09/18 »
I think the real problem is identifying Local Government as the main root cause. The active participant is the occupier of that part of the countryside and our main lobby group, the Rambler's Association, do not put enough emphasis on identifying these culprits.
There should be a greater awareness that landowners are denying other rural business' income and those organizations dependent on our custom (gear etc), that the restraints on the access network reflect down the chain.
In the case of this instance, I have not returned to this part of the countryside so the loss of my custom to a particular pub could be around a £100 or more. The refusal of the East Cheshire LAF to include my letter in their deliberations about strategy speaks for itself.
BWW
Their Land is in Our Country.

 

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