One has to say that the two fish reported from the Wye yesterday are beginning to make things look pretty desperate. A few fish have got to the upper river but on the whole most anglers are seeing very little and catching even less. Perhaps a few more fish are yet to be reported and maybe things will pick up today.
LATEST.
Three today from Nyth/Tyrcelyn. 8 and 9lbs. and 11lbs
Reports of an 18lb and 15lb fish from Spreadeagle to Nigel Smith.
Two from Ingeston to Mike Pritchard. Both about 9lbs.
One fro Bigswier to Ed brown on fly.
Two from Sheepwash today 8lbs on a wooden devon minnow to Richard Knowles (1st picture.) and a 12lb fish on a flying C to Gordon Cramp .Some of us may be getting on a bit but if you have it -you never loose it!!!
See below a statement by the Minister regarding increased access. Seems that the threat of legislation has been lifted during the lifetime of this Assembly and who knows perhaps the next too by which time Minister Griffiths may well have retired. Not sure how they expect us to create VAAs with people who don't want to sign them though.
So it looks like the threat has been lifted for the moment, no doubt due to the hard work everyone put in to make this a hot potato for the Welsh Government. So thanks to those who made it happen and all of you who made the effort to reply..
WRITTEN STATEMENT
BY
THE WELSH GOVERNMENT
TITLE Access and Outdoor Recreation
DATE 15 May 2014
BY John Griffiths AM, Minister for Culture and Sport
The Programme for Government includes important commitments
to improve public access
to Wales’ wonderful outdoors, in particular for families and
young children; and to improve
rights of way and create a Wales Coast Path.
In July 2013 I
launched a review of legislation relating to access and outdoor recreation with
a view to finding ways of increasing opportunities for
people to enjoy the outdoors and all
the social and economic benefits this can bring.
This Statement
provides Assembly Members with an update on developments in outdoor
recreation and how we will build on this during the
remainder of this Assembly term.
The initial
pre-consultation period allowed interested groups to state their views and
facilitated important discussions and consideration of the
issues involved. A wide range of
views were expressed on all the matters covered by the
review, including rights of way and
access to water. More work is required including further
evidence gathering before we
should decide the way forward. However it is already clear
that:
On land, there is a need to improve our rights of way
network and make the
associated legislative framework on access more effective;
On water,
there is a need to see an increase in the number of voluntary access
agreements providing for a range of
recreational activities.
We will therefore publish a Green Paper on
improving public access to land and seeking
better facilitation of voluntary access
to water. We do not plan to pursue primary legislation
in this Assembly Term.
2
Rights of way are very important to our local communities
providingRights of way are very important to our local communities providing
easy access to the local
countryside and contributing millions to the Welsh economy
each year. Since 2008/9 the
Welsh Government has invested £8.9 million to help local
authorities to implement their
rights of way improvement plans. The funding has contributed
to improving approximately
6,801km, 21% of the 33,000km network in Wales. Projects in
2013/14 included a good
number of improvements to cater specifically for the needs
of those with mobility problems.
For example in Bangor the Authority has replaced old
existing kissing gates with new wider
self-closing gates; and in Merthyr they have extended
provision for people with mobility
issues by installing five recreational picnic bench areas
with pushchair and wheelchair
access. I have committed a further £1 million of capital
funding for 2014/15.
During the review
there was strong support for the need to simplify and modernise the
legislative framework for rights of way. I have instructed
officials to implement changes that
will go some way to easing pressures on local authorities in
relation to rights of way,
including updating guidance and reviewing existing secondary
legislation. I intend to issue
updated guidance to local authorities on producing rights of
way improvement plans within
12 months and in time for the ten-yearly review of those
plans due in 2017.
The review underlined
considerable divergence of views between the different groups who
use water for leisure purposes. Welsh Government continues
to encourage and facilitate
voluntary access agreements. Over 2013/14 the Welsh
Government invested a further
£460k in facilitating access to inland water through the
Splash fund. This has enabled
projects such as the lakeside access improvements at
Breakwater Country Park in
Anglesey to increase water edge access for all and create
new and improved disability
angling opportunities on the lake. In 2014/15 it is my
intention to review the way in which
funding is allocated through Splash to improve its
effectiveness.
It has been two years
since the very successful launch of the Wales Coast Path. Over the
past year local authorities, in partnership with Natural
Resources Wales have been making
further improvements in the alignment of the route and in
the provision of information along
the way. For example, in Gwynedd the Pont Tonfannau Bridge,
a 50m long steel bridge
over the River Dysynni installed at Tywyn has removed an 8
mile diversion. Along with
improvements to alignment there are opportunities to create
circular routes linking with the
path.
Since 2008 the Welsh
Government has invested over £11.5 million in its creation and in
addition to the £1.1 million I have committed for further
development in 2014/15, the
Minister for Economy, Science and Transport has committed
£250k towards repairs
following the devastating storms earlier this year. In its
first two years the Wales Coast Path
has generated over £32 million of expenditure into the Welsh
economy.
And in July 2013 the Wales Coast Path was the overall winner
of the Royal Town Planning
Institute (RTPI) Awards for Planning Excellence, the premier
awards for planning in the UK.
Throughout this month
of May we are celebrating the anniversary of the coast path’s
completion and launch. It is my intention to build on these
events with increased focus,
promotion and activity for future anniversaries. In general
we will work to strengthen
promotion and profile recognising the considerable success
to date and further potential.
Natural Resources
Wales has been working on the decadal review of access maps under
the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 [“CRoW”]. In the
short to medium term it is my
intention to look at ways to make this process simpler and
more pro-active in future for the
benefit of both users and landowners. Publically accessible
land under CRoW provides 3
significant opportunities for walkers to enjoy the outdoors
and is a key attribute to consider
in the context of the wider picture of improving access.
Natural Resources Wales will shortly issue its Outdoor
Recreation and Access Strategic
Statement. We will continue our close partnership with NRW
in delivering greater
opportunities to access the outdoors.
We are supporting a
wide-ranging access agenda and have made significant progress over
recent years. I want to build on this during the remainder
of this Assembly term and
continue the progress achieved across Welsh Government in
developing Wales as a leader
in outdoor recreation provision. The Green Paper will enable
further engagement to inform
and help shape our policy and actions over the next two
years and our ideas and plans for
the next Assembly.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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