David Rose
Active member
Some forum readers may know that following a change of job, I recently acquired a House of Commons lobby pass, which gives me full access to Westminster. Last week, amid the political mayhem, I managed to grab some time with Green MP Caroline Lucas, who is introducing a Privatre Member's Bill to extend CROW access rights to coastal areas and elsewhere. Currently it doesn't mention caving. I'd already emailed her and her staff about the BCA campaign and judicial review before we spoke.
She’d read my emails and said she was very sympathetic to our cause and would try to mention caving when her Bill is debated. However, she can’t amend it now because it’s already been presented without a clause on cave access.
Should it pass its second reading, she said, she would be open to amending it then, as parliamentary procedure rules would then make this possible. However, she said that she rates the prospects of this at less than 10%.
That said, we will be having an election before very long, at the latest by January 2025. If Labour wins, which seems likely, she would re-introduce the Bill afterwards (assuming she keeps her own seat, of course). At that point she would be very much prepared to redraft it, and with Labour in power it might well become law.
So the lines of communication are open. We’ll see what happens next.
I said after the end of the judicial review that I'd try to lobby politicians as a next step. This was a useful first step.
David Rose
Convenor, BCA CROW access working group
She’d read my emails and said she was very sympathetic to our cause and would try to mention caving when her Bill is debated. However, she can’t amend it now because it’s already been presented without a clause on cave access.
Should it pass its second reading, she said, she would be open to amending it then, as parliamentary procedure rules would then make this possible. However, she said that she rates the prospects of this at less than 10%.
That said, we will be having an election before very long, at the latest by January 2025. If Labour wins, which seems likely, she would re-introduce the Bill afterwards (assuming she keeps her own seat, of course). At that point she would be very much prepared to redraft it, and with Labour in power it might well become law.
So the lines of communication are open. We’ll see what happens next.
I said after the end of the judicial review that I'd try to lobby politicians as a next step. This was a useful first step.
David Rose
Convenor, BCA CROW access working group