Is this a corporate message to improve their image in the eyes of the public or their investors?
if thats the message I'm not convinced.
Quite possibly that is the motivation behind, it but why knock it. As walkers we base our leisure on access to the countryside, any pro publicity is good, it builds the case for the social benefits of the access network, even more so now as leisure budgets have been cut. The access network is a wealth creating asset. It does this by both active and passive earning, I attended a LAF meeting over 5 years ago, where a senior area health official was preaching from this hymn sheet.
All argument needs dialogue, empty sound bites soon fall short of being convincing, but facts and examples build a case. Coming from a farming background I listen too often to false examples and reasons, why visitors the countryside should have their access limited. These days I go to a lot of funerals, a lot of the country folk I grew up with are being planted back in the ground. They were true farmers, today the control of the countryside is slipping fast back into the hands of the landowner, with land values well over £10,000 per acre.
Yet there are figures to prove that one mile of right of way can put £100,000's of income into the rural economy per year, without it going through the hand of the land owner, then there is the hidden passive earnings. Such as the above.
Do we know how to interpret the specific ingredients of these assets? Without being able to talk about them and flesh out the bones of the generalities, who will listen.
Looking at the efforts of the Woodland Trust as in RO's post, I am tempted to compare it to farm walks, which get a lot of laudable press. A landowner, Woolley by name and native of Devon, I believe, president of the CLA prior to Harry Cotterell, (auther of current CLA access policy, called 'Common Sense') got a lot of praise for making walks on his acres.
It is worth noting that none of these schemes link into the access network proper. Nor did the CLA's document cover anything closely resembling the above sentiments.