Dave Tyson
Member
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but CAL have just had a legal letter from NRW formally terminating the agreement which provided access to certain mines on NRW/WG land.
We went through this last year, however NRW did not follow the required legal steps and decided in the end to backtrack. This time there will be no backtrack, though it is possible that NRW may try and negotiate a different contract with CAL. We do not know the exact reason for termination but surmise that the Welsh Government want NRW to generate more money and so it is likely that any new agreement may come with financial burdens in one form or another. This is unacceptable and NRW have been notified of this in the termination acknowledgement. None of the CAL directors want to be in a position where mine-explorers/cavers have to pay to access a site and anyway it would preclude CAL using the BCA insurance cover.
The agreement only applies to sites owned by WG or NRW and listed on the website. Sites owned by Roy Fellows such as Dinas are unaffected. The agreement will terminate on the 20th November so if you want to legally access any of the sites then do so before that date, after that the 11th commandment applies. There is no need to notify CAL of any new trips as I will not have to send the summary statistics to NRW this year...
Make the most of the time remaining! We will probably keep the mine description/parking pages on the up website online for armchair cavers
I have asked Gethin Thomas and Miles Moulding about the situation with Rhiwbach but they haven't replied yet. My guess is NRW will ask them to change the access code, but I am not sure if they would have to report 'alien' visitors after 20th November - it seems unlikely.
We kept our side of the agreement for 8 years and tried to support easy and equitable access so its a shame that it has come to an end.
Dave
for and on behalf of the CAL directors
We went through this last year, however NRW did not follow the required legal steps and decided in the end to backtrack. This time there will be no backtrack, though it is possible that NRW may try and negotiate a different contract with CAL. We do not know the exact reason for termination but surmise that the Welsh Government want NRW to generate more money and so it is likely that any new agreement may come with financial burdens in one form or another. This is unacceptable and NRW have been notified of this in the termination acknowledgement. None of the CAL directors want to be in a position where mine-explorers/cavers have to pay to access a site and anyway it would preclude CAL using the BCA insurance cover.
The agreement only applies to sites owned by WG or NRW and listed on the website. Sites owned by Roy Fellows such as Dinas are unaffected. The agreement will terminate on the 20th November so if you want to legally access any of the sites then do so before that date, after that the 11th commandment applies. There is no need to notify CAL of any new trips as I will not have to send the summary statistics to NRW this year...
Make the most of the time remaining! We will probably keep the mine description/parking pages on the up website online for armchair cavers
I have asked Gethin Thomas and Miles Moulding about the situation with Rhiwbach but they haven't replied yet. My guess is NRW will ask them to change the access code, but I am not sure if they would have to report 'alien' visitors after 20th November - it seems unlikely.
We kept our side of the agreement for 8 years and tried to support easy and equitable access so its a shame that it has come to an end.
Dave
for and on behalf of the CAL directors