Hello,
I'm a southern caver and I'm voting No for the following reasons.
1, Southern caves have gates on them and if you remove them then the caves will be open to vandalism malicious or otherwise - the cave doors must stay on and locked for the good of the caves.
2, You remove the door to a gated cave. Now along comes little johnny with his family for a walk in the country and he falls down the hole - you can guess the rest. Once a cave is gated a precedent has been set and that cave must say locked - forget the right of access - it must stay locked for the safety of the public and for the conservation of the cave.
3, No landowner is going to allow digging and open themselves up to liability.
4, What about internal gates and barriers protecting irreplaceable formations - who are we are we allow them to be damaged or destroyed so future generations cannot see them. With open access this will happen.
5, Just because we have the right doesn't mean it is right! Landowners will close caves when caver's start to dictate "I am going down that cave I have the right" Does the BCRA have the money to take multiple landowners to court to force them to open their caves.
6, CROW access doesn't count if the cave entrance is near an agricultural building which could simply be a sheep pen. Landowners have only to erect a simply structures near cave entrances for our rights to vanish.
7, What about the rights of the bats and other protected animals living in the caves?
Many will not agree with my views but we all have to think of the big picture. We all have to think what is best for caving all over the country - not just in the north - a vote yes will damage caving. It is better to stomach limited access even though the have the right for full access for the good of caving as a whole.