YOUR LETTERS YOURletters
THERE’S NO ISSUE OF HORSE ACCESS Horse riders being denied a right of access [Riders in a Storm, July 2014] does not describe a situation that I, as someone involved in access rights and indeed horse riding in the countryside, recognise. The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 was reviewed by parliament
in 2011 and did not fi nd any widespread issues with equestrian access. More recently, responses to the Land Reform Review Group did not raise any signifi cant problems for horse riders gaining access. We are not aware of any evidence to back up the assertion that
access for riders in Perthshire, Fife and Angus has signifi cantly declined since the right of responsible access came into effect in 2005. It would be surprising if a law designed to increase access for riders actually had the opposite effect without signifi cant attention being given to this development. One of the shortcomings of the Act is that it relies on those
exercising access rights to make decisions about what is and is not responsible. So anyone taking access would require an in-depth knowledge of every type of land management practice they might encounter. Since this is an unrealistic expectation, farmers and landowners need to intervene at times with reasonable and legal measures to manage access. Landowners or farmers do not lock gates to restrict access –
which would not be permitted – but for legitimate purposes such as protecting fi elds where lambing is taking place or to prevent livestock escaping. Such preventative measures are protected by the legislation. Implementing a new system of fi nes where access has been
restricted would be pointless given the existing powers available to local authorities and the courts to act under the legislation. If widespread problems do exist with access for riders, we would
expect to have been made aware of it, and we would expect these powers to have been utilised more extensively than they have been so far. Anne Gray, Policy Offi cer (Environment), Scottish Land & Estates, Musselburgh
THE PROBLEM OF HORSE ACCESS... I read with interest your editorial concerning the lack of access for riders in Scotland [Riders in a Storm, July 2014]. The British Horse Society in Scotland works closely with council access
offi cers in our efforts to get horses off the public roads. We work through education to stress the responsibility of all those involved in access, but are also aware that there are many problems in parts of Scotland with gates being locked apparently unreasonably. We try to achieve satisfactory results through communication and
maybe sometimes compromise, and only if all that fails would we seek a stronger approach. The Land Reform Bill has been diffi cult for many land managers to accept but hopefully through communication, compromise and – only occasionally – recourse to stronger measures we can achieve responsible access to the land for horse riders all over Scotland. Ann Fraser MBE, Chair British Horse Society (Scotland) Access Committee,
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