This page is about the CRoW Working Group. For more general information on CRoW check out the CRoW section of the Access page.
In 2013, the CRoW Working Group was established to identify how many caves were on Countryside Rights of Way (CRoW) access land.
In 2014 the BCA conducted a pivotal ballot of all our members to ask whether the BCA should be campaigning for caving to be recognised as an allowed activity on CRoW access land. At the time, and still at the time of writing (2020), Government bodies insist that it is not, despite not being specifically excluded by the CRoW Act wording. Legal advice obtained at the time by the BCA, as well as the more recently published Julian Glover ‘Landscapes Review’ suggest that caving should be allowed on access land.
The ballot passed with approximately two thirds majority, and so the campaign began.
The CRoW Working Group thus turned its attention to leading this campaign, working with the Conservation and Access Standing Committee, and reporting to BCA Council.
Since 2014, news on the progress of the CRoW Working Group and the campaign has been extensively reported not only in reports to National Council and General Meetings, but also in our newsletters. Until such a time that the campaign is successful, the BCA has adopted a standpoint that caving is already covered under CRoW, and has thus adopted a CRoW Policy to formalise this opinion.
CRoW Working Group Key Documents
- CRoW Policy Statement
- A document outlining the BCA position with respect to CRoW and caving.
- Guidance to Access Controlling Bodies on CRoW
- Document issued 2016 to provide guidance to Access Controlling Bodies regarding the BCA’s stance and actions with respect to the CRoW campaign.