Hi all. This came across my desk as PICA chairman but it needs to be disseminated across the caving community. Please read and pass on the information through your clubs or groups. Please note this is NOT just an instructed caving issue, it has happened with recreational visits too.

Recently there have been some exchanges between cavern users and a gentleman in the car park at Bagshawe relating to vehicles blocking access to the strip of land down the right side of the site, next to where the old van is parked/abandoned. There have been no previous issues with this car parking area and we are all using the site with full permission of the owner. There is, it appears, a section of the land that is separately owned or leased on the right of the car park area by a builder. This has not been a problem in the past but this person is now insisting that cave users must not block access to this side of the car park, i.e. he needs to be able to fit a van down the right side of the parked van at all times.
Cavers are therefore requested by the owner that access to this strip of land must always be left open. Practically, this means no parking there yourself or parking in a way that blocks a vehicle entering or exiting the strip on the right. In effect, we lose a parking place in the already small car park.
It maybe appropriate to consider parking large groups of vehicles on the road verge on Outlands Road nearby. So long as they are tucked in and HGV?s or tractors can access the farm, it is only a short walk to the cave. I don't know of any issues here but please say so if you do.

If anyone has any further issues with the parking here, please let us know. We have maintained an excellent relationship with the owners of this private land and should seek to continue that at all costs.

Pete Knight

On behalf of the DCA and PICA.

Hi Pete

Thats interesting.  I noticed recently that there has been quite a bit of landscaping in the car park, its tidied things up, but also notably reduced the parking space.  Also, the pile of stone in the right hand corner, near the road, has grown and grown over the years, also reducing parking space.

I think the builder is a member of the Revell family.  Ownership of the land and cavern is, as far as I'm aware, complicated to say the least.

I totally agree though that good relations with him/the Revells  are vital to the continued enjoyment of the caverns. 

8)

The big pile of stones should be getting moved to create additional space so I'm told.

HI Pete to clarify, is it the area where the rocks are that we need to keep clear, or the lad to right hand side of where the old van was / is.

If its to the right of the old van, then as users we are going to have to give a lot more thought to parking.

It is the land furthest from the car park entrance, down the side of the van and parallel to the neighbouring property. The pile of stones was supposed to get moved to make more space for cavers.

Thanks