2 Full Days To Go

21. May 2008 McMatrix

With only 2 full days to go, the number of signatures has reached over 1,900.

The petition’s creator, Darren, has been enjoying the luxury of the Scottish wild camping scene over the last week-and-a-half. He has been walking across Scotland on the TGO Challenge.

You can follow his exploits on his blog: http://whitespider1066.com

If you watch it and think: “why can’t we legally do this in England & Wales?” or “I’m tired of skulking around like a petty criminal every time a landrover goes past in the valley below” or even “wait a minute, we’re all in the UK, pay the same taxes, vote for the same Government, why can’t we have similar laws” … then sign the ePetition.

We can’t promise that our democratically elected Government will do anything beyond the negative comments that have been posted already - but this is just Stage One.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/wildcamp/

Show your support, and we’ll move on to Stage Two.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/wildcamp/

It is broken, and we’re in the mood to fix it.

Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

1-7-0-0!!!

6. May 2008 admin

The title says it all really. A week to the day after posting that the petition had reached 1500, I didn’t think I would be posting so soon afterwards that we had reached 1700.

Speechless, I really am gobsmacked

Thanks folks for signing.

Also the Facebook Group has also grown to 192 members.

Petition Count | 2 Comments »

:-)

4. May 2008 Bearded Git

1664 now!

Here’s a thought for all you folk at Uni… please spread the word to any other clubs/societies that you think might support us. It’s not just the walking, climbing and mountaineering clubs that we’re hoping will back us, think about the geography clubs, the geological societies, the NERC postgrads, the hydrologists, the list goes on and on…

Oh, and feel free to comment on here too!

Petition Count | 0 Comments »

And now …….1600

3. May 2008 John Hee

Was it only only last week that Darren posted on reaching the 1,500 total?

Now, in less than a week, its jumped up to 1,631.

If you’ve arrived here as a result of our recent mailing to University Outdoor Clubs…….thanks for the support.

Right. Three weeks left to go - 2,000+ is achievable.

Told all your friends, family, workmates yet?

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1500

29. April 2008 admin

With less than a month to go, the petition to “Legalise Wild Camping in England and Wales” has now reached 1500 signatures.

Wow, what a fantastic number to reach. Thanks to everyone that has signed the petition so far. Big thanks to all my fellow bloggers that have supported this petition and all the hard work they have put in so far.

Petition Count | 1 Comment »

Active Magazine (May 08)

27. April 2008 John Hee

There’s a 3 page spread in the latest magazine (now available in W H Smiths) plus a mention in the editorial. The E-P is given prominent coverage in the article which covers campaigns for greater countryside access. A very positive piece with some interesting comments from  those representing the landowner’s interests.

Recommended reading.

And if you’ve happen to have just dropped by as a result of reading the magazine…..Hi - here’s the link you’ll need to add your signature to Wild Camping E-Petition.  

News, Uncategorized | 0 Comments »

Facebook Groups

24. April 2008 admin

Thought it was time to remind people that are into Facebook that there is an official Facebook petition group called “Legalise Wild Camping in England and Wales“, but there is also a “Wild Camping” group as well also supporting the petition.

The official Facebook group has about 131 members, which isn’t bad. So if you are on Facebook why not join one or both of the groups to show your support?

News | 2 Comments »

How To Contact Your MP

20. April 2008 admin

For those that have signed the petition (or haven’t) and would like to show your support even more, you could write to your MP about the petition as well. One or two bloggers have done so already, but the more that write to their MP’s raising the issue the better.

You can contact you MP through this site, or use Google to find out if your MP has their own website or blog and contact them through that. If they haven’t got a contact page on their site then I think you should be having a word about that as well.

Below are a couple of template emails that you can use.

“Dear Sir,

I would like to bring to your attention an e-petition that is requesting a legislative change to make wild-camping in England and Wales legal. The e-petition can be found on the 10 Downing Street website at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/wildcamp/#detail.

As the law currently stands, the position regarding wild-camping is inconsistent between England and Wales when compared to Scotland. By virtue of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, which granted wide-ranging access rights in Scotland, it was made legal to wild-camp (within certain remits) north of the border.

Although the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 greatly improved access rights in England and Wales when compared to the previous position at law, it specifically excluded the activity of camping from the access granted.

As is evidenced by the number of people who have signed this petition within the first few days and without any media coverage of which I am aware, the need to bring the position in England and Wales into line with the position in Scotland is well supported.

I would make clear to you that the right being requested by this petition is not to allow people to pull up at road-sides in their cars and camp willy-nilly on farm land.

The right being requested, as is already encapsulated in the law that applies in Scotland, is for people who are accessing the hills and countryside on foot to have a right at law to be able to pitch their tent or lie out their bivvy bag for the night, strictly following the ‘leave no trace’ principles.

If enacted in the same manner as applies in Scotland, anyone abusing this right by causing damage, litter or nuisance would be acting outside of the right permitted at law and thus the position of the land owners would be protected.

Would you please support this initiative to effect this change in the law?

Yours faithfully
”

or

“Dear xxxxx,

I wish to draw to your attention an e-petition (http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/wildcamp/) urging the government to give walkers in England and Wales the same rights to wild camp that walkers currently enjoy in Scotland under the access  code  approved in 2004 by the Scottish Parliament  (http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/access/ApprovedCode050604.pdf).  I am writing to inform you of my strong support for this petition and to urge you to consider its merits. I see no reason why an English and Welsh version of the Scottish code is not workable and feel very strongly that walkers in England and Wales should enjoy the same privileges as those in Scotland.

Yours sincerely,

xxxxx”

Thanks to Gayle and Robin for their template emails.

News | 5 Comments »

1350 And Counting

20. April 2008 admin

Way back in the early days of the petition a challenge or target was set by Duncan to match the number of people consulted for the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. Earlier today that target was reached.

It almost seems despite the odds that we have reached this number. It would not of been possible without the support and hard work of the outdoors bloggers. Who have spread the word on their blogs, on forums, they have contacted organisations (who have remained silent on the issue). Basically they have worked their socks off for this petition (especially Mr Hee). All I can say is a big big thank you guys for the hard work, and also a big thank you to those that have signed the petition.

Read some bloggersphere reaction here:

BG “Another milestone reached“, Duncan “ePetition breaks Scottish target” and Robin “96th out of 6529“

Petition Count | 0 Comments »

Podcast Interview at the NEC

14. April 2008 John Hee

Podcast Bob’s latest Podzine is now available (for free) with a ten minute interview discussing the current campaign (now at 1,260)

Download from The Outdoors Station or directly using this link.

The Podzine 14/4/08

Download MP3 File

Bloggersphere, News, Petition Count | 0 Comments »