GaryL

GLASS update – the almost weekly members update. In a week when the rain dancing around the Lawes residence finally paid off, the Greenlaning world went into overdrive. Breakaway groups, NERC in the Lords etc., so I haven’t had a moment to get out and check the depth of the river crossing, Such is life. So this is the very first of the shiny new GLASS update, aimed at keeping you up to date on what happens in the GLASS corridors of power. Please feel free to comment. I will read the feedback, but will resist being drawn into conversation as I see this as a reporting function rather than debate, that can continue on the main forum. Some of this first post will give details prior to this week, just to enable some catch up. NERC in the Lords Firstly to say that in the weeks coming up to this a strategy had been developed and laid out, we had to move fast on this as the third reading in the commons caught us cold. We had not anticipated the Government going back on all the agreements we, TRF and LARA had made with them regarding sustainability tests, claims etc. Jim Knight was ambushed by some sort of cross party alliance. So we had to mobilise forces quickly. Ross Kennedy the GLASS ROW officer and all round legal genius spent a few days taking the amended bill apart and reported his findings to the exec, based on this a strategy has been developed, however this is not straight forward, NERC as its stands is riddled with holes, it is assumed that this is deliberate – we spot the holes, keep quiet so as not to lose them, government has a nice peaceful time, then makes changes at the last minute. So even though we know what is happening, we still have to keep quiet about the holes just in case a couple of them are genuine omissions. Anyway that said, we were fairly sure that the Lords would draw a blank, with many of them being land owners. We did mail them with the Green Laning brochure produced by Roland Westlake and Dave Codrai, an excellent document that clearly lays out the issues. Duncan Green our CEO suddenly became best buddies with a Lord that he loosely knew and through this managed to get some balance to the argument when his Lordship presented the issues regarding property access via RUPPs. So although the Lords reading was not good, it was probably better than we had expected, an awful lot of work just to get a few words on our side. We have been running a brain storming session on interested parties, that will be affected by NERC, for example an obvious one – Property owners accessed from RUPPs, but additionally Canoeists needing access to rivers, balloonists access to fields. We have prepared, or are preparing (work in progress) press releases to the relevant bodies informing them of the impact of NERC. There are some big issues here, Ross has just finished his overview of impact on property, it may even affect you so have a look and contact anyone you know that it will. Also any other bodies that are worth approaching, let us know by posting here. Nic Blundell, Chairman, has prepared an excellent hard hitting document for Jim Knight, reminding him of the agreements he reneged on, and more importantly the significance of the original agreements. The letter makes very good reading. This is being fine tuned and will be out during next week. Generic letters are being produced for you, our members, to send to your local MPs. This will be a letter or two with a few extra paragraphs for customising to suit your message, but we will need you to further customise to make each one “your own”. Will be sent out to you next week. . Even better, go and see your MP at one of his “surgeries”, look him/her in the eye and explain the injustice. LARA, with the support of GLASS and the TRF have appointed a professional lobbying organisation to get our arguments across in the House of Commons before the final reading, Ross and Duncan have been busy compiling the briefing document, a meaty document it is too (beyond me, almost every word) and legal advice is now being sought on the wording. This is the result of many weeks work by these guys. We are really not happy to have had to resort to lobbying. It seems a crude and ridiculous way to run a country, but it was the lobbying by the anti’s that hurt us on the third reading, so if you can’t beat them, join them. This is an expensive action but we feel this is an all or nothing situation. We need all GLASS members (and non members of course) to really get active NOW. Get hold of your MP, write to them, or better still get face to face with them. The GLASS briefing papers are available on request. Write to the Lords or MPs that have clearly been spouting nonsense again drafts are available for this. One of our members, who wishes to remain anonymous succeeded in emailing every Peer regarding disabled access to the countryside, and got some positive responses. Maybe their noble Lords will create an exception to NERC? Blue badge holders could suddenly become very popular in the Green Laning fraternity! Keep informed by getting onto www.parliament.uk Hansard, contact details, everything is here. Someone on Mud club (I think it was Tom) had suggested we all take to fixing and displaying black and green ribbons as a show of unity against bill, unanimous support for a nice idea, but I suspect it will need someone else to run with it – Tom maybe, how about it? NERC is obviously a big subject, I will not try to cover everything here, if you haven’t already then please have a look at all that Ross has written on the subject, and the actions needing to be taken. Internal complaints etc. As you all know there was a flurry of complaints and many postings have covered this with varying degrees of accuracy, I don’t think I need to say more except - Mobilising the investigation was not straight forward as (- 1) the whole of the exec. was implicated and involved. 2) It revolved around the Legal case against Powys CC which is being run on our behalf by Lawyers. Establishing process, purpose, and more importantly finding independent but at the same time, informed investigators, prepare to do it, was time consuming. The investigation obviously had to be kept out of the public eye, to maintain impartiality and of course came at the worst possible time. Current status – all now complete Nic is currently preparing final reports. We will post these when the investigations are complete and the legal process no longer needs to be confidential. It may have appeared that nothing was happening, but trust me it was. Enough said - Please New group formed Bit of free publicity for them here, we become more generous with every passing day. To be honest it has all been said, and I am keen to avoid any further bloodshed. So good luck and I hope in the future we can put our differences aside and work together to save our hobby. . General membership issues Recent complaints have made us look seriously at ourselves (not pretty, except Graham of course) and how we work as an organisation, and there was one obvious gaping hole in the middle – we have many great reps and members out there working at local level and we the exec working at central government level, but no communication between. I cannot remember how many times I have heard, or read, members say they don’t know what we are doing, and sometimes not as politely as that. This raised a debate this week, in which this weekly posting was unanimously (well almost, I voted against it) agreed upon, I hope it helps. Area reps. We always need more, there has been a certain amount of discussion on this point. The area reps role is an important one and we can never have enough. We would be happy to split counties in order get more people involved if necessary, its not too onerous a role, and very much what you make it, if you are interested have a word with Esther Bourne the reps coordinator. Thanks for listening, get out and do some laning, record it on Wayfinder and write to your MP, help us keep our pastime alive. Till next time Gary

The NERC bill was read in the House of Lords last night, I like many sat aghast at the ignorance displayed by many of our senior law makers – unbelievable. It is difficult to offer definitive guidance at this point as to the true impact of NERC, that is simply because as it stands it is a poorly drafted piece of legislation, riddled with holes, that will inevitably be tightened up on final reading. This is undoubtedly a deliberate strategy to keep us quiet – as we will not want to publicise our understanding of the holes, and also keeps the anti’s quiet as they think they have won. Gets everyone off the governments back. So what have we been doing – obviously keeping quiet on the holes, and will continue to do so, we expect few to be left unplugged but we are certainly not going to help them with this. We didn’t expect much from the House of Lords, the majority being landowners, any law that reduces public rights of way over their property would be supported, we do have a chance before the final reading in the commons. We have appointed a professional lobbying organisation to hammer the MPs to death with our arguments. This is an expensive process but we take the view – its all or nothing now. An overview of NERC and its impact on us can be found on – www.glass-uk.org then click the link. This has been prepared by Ross Kennedy our legal expert. What can you do? There is a great deal firstly – Get out there and drive the lanes, two reasons for this, it is fun and what we are all here for, and secondly user evidence (i.e. use of the lanes) will almost certainly become critical. So drive them and then most importantly RECORD IT. This is best done on our Wayfinder site - http://www.way-finder.co.uk and when recording it is the NUMBER OF PEOPLE that count, not the number of vehicles. Drive as many as you can, with as many people in the car and record it. For access to wayfinder you need to be a member of GLASS, if you are currently not we would welcome you on board the more the merrier at this point in time, or record your use on paper and send it to our head office. Write to you MP – details of how to contact them on – www.locata.co.uk/commons all you do is enter your postcode and it will give full contact details. Not sure what to write? We will be posting example letters on the GLASS website – www.glass-uk,org Continue to put in claims, the government has persistently made it look as if this is both a waste of time and adding to the problem, it is not. Claims may well become critical depending on how the bill finally settles down. Again details on GLASS site. Speak with your local ROW officer, these will be at your county council offices, should all be on their respective web site. These guys are as anti NERC as we are, have a chat see if they need any lanes repairing, the GLASS lane maintenance program could support them, we would be happy to do so particularly if lane was to become recorded as a BOAT (Byway open to all traffic), you never know might just work. Action must take place now, NERC is a serious threat, but it can be defeated, even if it passes through the commons un-amended, we have a contingency fund set aside for the final battle. Right now we really would welcome your support, if not a member, it is only £25, this could be the difference between laning or not after Christmas. If you are a member and would like to do more to help let us know, we are always glad of extra support. Gary Lawes GLASS press officer