....With the current legal process, to wilfully block the entrance could be seen as contempt of court, being a malicious attempt to circumvent the law?.....
I have publicly stated my own hope and wish that the whole CROW issue could be decided by persuasion, without recourse to the courts. Unfortunately thus far DEFRA, NE and NRW have shown themselves to be intransigent and unreasonable, unwilling to budge an inch from a legally perverse position - that cavers can enter systems on access land freely as far as the daylight ends, but can go no further.
Quote from: David Rose on February 20, 2016, 12:15:31 pmAs I understand it, the digging was not on the surface but underground, in order to connect Drws to the main Draenen system. Digging already takes place underground in many caves without the permission of the landowner who happens to own the entrance, on both CROW and non-CROW land.Ok, I hadn't realized that it wasn't a surface dig. My point about needing landowner permission (and therefore goodwill) for surface digs still has some relevance I feel.
As I understand it, the digging was not on the surface but underground, in order to connect Drws to the main Draenen system. Digging already takes place underground in many caves without the permission of the landowner who happens to own the entrance, on both CROW and non-CROW land.
The entrance to Drws Cefn is a completely natural feature (a small vertical pothole) that became infilled with glacial deposits at the end of the last ice age. These deposits were then removed to reveal the open cave passage which lay beneath. Further on, this passage was indeed enlarged artificially during the course of its exploration but this is no different to what you find with many caves, including the original Ogof Draenen entrance.
, especially in light of the broad support the BCA campaign is now attracting.