UKC

The Peak District National Park Authority today (Mon Jul 24) lifted its suspension of access to open moorland after weekend rainfall slightly lowered the risk, but the situation is still being kept under constant review.

Co-ordinated teams from the Peak District Fire Operations Group have ensured that any fire-outbreaks so far have been contained.

The worst burned for 48 hours on Bleaklow and other outbreaks have occurred on Black Hill, Rainow and Dovestones, and on moors around Stalybridge.

See the BMC's RAD for the full crag details.
http://www.climbingcrags.co.uk/

Guy Keating
BMC A&C

In reply to Team BMC:

So what happened to the 'fire severity index needing to be under 5 for five days'?

I'm not complaining but inconsistent information on occasions like this from the PNP is surely only going to make people think that no-one really knows what is going on. It was the same last week with various crags being restricted, then not restricted, then restricted again.

Alan

In reply to Alan James - UKC:
It does seem rather strange. One minute they were claiming they had no choice but to suspend access due to these rules about the fire severity index, the next minute the 'rules' are ignored and access is restored. Not that I'm complaining about the latter, but if they come out with conflicting statements then it makes it hard to know what to do.

BTW the North York Moors access land is also open again, as of yesterday. But parts of the Dales are still closed.

In reply to Simon Caldwell:

Why worry, the whole basis of the access land ban is flawed. There is simply no significant risk if people dont smoke or light fires. Since they wont stop car drivers or close public rights of way where there are idiots that dont care and drop smouldering cigarette butts and the occasional enthusisatic arsonist the comparative risks from these are much larger. Hence, the BMC should contest this like any other illogical ban. If the risk and consequencies are that bad, public rights of way (and arguably roads) should close.

In reply to Offwidth:

Because I don't want to risk driving for an hour or more to get to a crag, only to be turned away!

In reply to Offwidth:

Which is exactly what they did which is why access was maintained to many more crags than normal.

Simon and my point is that, if the PNP want to be taken seriously, then they need to be consistent in their information and not come up with something one week which they then ignore the next week.

Alan

In reply to Alan James - UKC:

Lets be clearer: I know the BMC negotiated and opened up many crags as a result but I would have prefered a more direct counter argument. I know it risked more extensive bans but there are other ways to deal with this. I dont think we should accept such illogical justifications from PNP and other similar public bodies.

I know its cynical but it seems to me arguing about the consistency of an illogical argument is bit like trying to shut the stable doors after the horse has bolted.

In reply to Offwidth: If you feel that strongly, why don't you sign up as the local access rep or something? Actions speak louder than words.

In reply to Simon Caldwell:

Living in Scarborough and wishing to climb at Brimahm this weekend I share your concern Simon.

I visited the site for Brimham and couldn't work out if it was open or not. I am probably being thick or half reading it, but open access is available on established footpaths only...... are there any non established ones there?

As an aside, I am a committed and unrepentant smoker, my fags and lighter stay in the car and butt ends go in the ashtray, not through the window, so I am unlikely to cause a problem that way. I believe to do anything else would be an act of the utmost selfishness and stupidity

In reply to Bogsy:
I think Brimham will be open, as it's owned by the National Trust, who would lose shed loads of money from car park and tea room sales!

In reply to danm:

I made my point direct to them as well and go to the local meetings. My volunteer time is mainly spent grade checking at the moment which given what Lynn and I have done and what still remains for us to do is probably more useful to the climbing community (thats if we can get on to the crag !?)

In reply to Bogsy:

You found the site, same as I did. I then rang up to see if the site was open for the other thread, and put up the news that Brimham was OPEN.

If unsure all you have to do is phone the office or email them to check, office hours of course.

In reply to sutty:
Thanks