[BBC News] Clarkson may grant walkers access

[Newsbot]

Presenter Jeremy Clarkson is to consider whether to allow walkers access to his land on the island.

 

Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/...man/6442091.stm

[Tugger]

Good move by Clarkson in opening a dialogue. I didn't give two hoots about him fencing the land off (either it is a right of way, in which case he could be taken to court, or it isn't, in which case he can do what he likes), but this is at least a gesture in the right direction

[Juan Kerr]

I can't wait for the Sunday Times article where he explains the pitfalls of burying ramblers with a mini digger on his own stretch of beach.

[Gladys]

Good move by Clarkson in opening a dialogue. I didn't give two hoots about him fencing the land off (either it is a right of way, in which case he could be taken to court, or it isn't, in which case he can do what he likes), but this is at least a gesture in the right direction

Second that. The official line is that it is not an official right of way, so he is perfectly entitled to fence it off. Wouldn't you? Bearing in mind who he is, the likelihood is that all kinds of rubber neckers would be there to catch a glimpse of him or his family. I take the dogs there sometimes, and it is a lovely walk, but it is not my right and it is clear from the notices that the quid pro quo for him allowing walkers with their dogs onto that promontory is for people to respect the fact that it is private property. Can't say fairer than that!

 

BTW, I did bump into JC a few weeks ago when walking the dog on HIS land. I felt a little embarassed really, but he was very polite and we exchanged a few pleasantries. Can't knock the man.

[Frances]

In Man as in the UK the strech of land between high & low water marks belongs to the Crown thus no private individual owns a beach (Clarkson included) - the dialogue possibly arises from the large number of signed affidavits presented to the Attorney General indicating that it has been unobstructed for many years and thus ranks as a public footpath, no doubt his lawyers have suggested that talking and trying to keep as a permissive path may be in his best interests.

[Gladys]

Yes, but that beach argument always falls down when the only means of access is over private property. I am sure there have been a large number of affidavits, but how long must the access have been unobstructed for a public right of way to be established?

 

Regardless of what his motives are in opening a dialogue and the motives of those who oppose his efforts to secure his family's privacy, a constructive dialogue is surely the way to go to reach an arrangement beneficial to all parties.

 

I do think that half of the complaints is a little of the green eye and wanting to take on a high profile personality.

[Albert Tatlock]

I keep a wide berth - worried that walking there at the moment, dogs and all, I'd fall into his mouth. Purchase of his property sort of sums up his media image for me at the moment - i.e. act first and think about the consequences later.

 

Shame such a telented presenter got sucked into the dumbocracy of the media - when he could have been such a champ in pulling everyone out! I truly believe he thinks that too...so hopefully it's not too late.

 

I look forward to the JC version of Top Gear - miles away from the current version, closer to the old +plus his own ingredients, with a large dose of the old JC commonsense. Hopefully, he'll get back to what he originally stood for and get his own show on the new ITV (that Michael Grade will no doubt be pushing) and dump sleepy and dwarfy.

 

...otherwise he's off my xmas card list.

[Frances]

there is no beach there merely rocks - I understand 21 years for unobstructed access (it may be less, someone told me 14 yrs), - I think there were some hundreds of such statements but the AG sat on the case until the elections were out of the way. The privacy issue only arose once Clarkson reduced the height of the original perimeter wall - is he really a rubber necker's target (not having a TV I've never seen his programme nor would I recognise him if he passed me in Strand street).

[Gladys]

I know there are only rocks, I used the term 'beach' because it was easier than typing 'between high and low tide'. That does not change the general position, that although the strand between the high and low water marks may belong to the Crown, that is pretty useless if you do not have public access and is really not relevant in this matter as the matter in dispute is not access to that area but access past the lighthouse cottages.

 

So the privacy issue only arose when he lowered a perimeter wall? Is he not entitled to do that and then take steps to protect his privacy on his land?

 

As for hundreds of statements, do they all verify unobstructed access for 14 or 21 years?

 

I do not have a particular axe to grind on this, other than having the feeling that the protestors are more interested in scoring points against a high profile individual than really preserving any rights.

 

In the final analysis, how much does blocking off that piece of land truly impact on walkers' enjoyment, but how much does it adversely affect someone's enjoyment of property they have purchased?

[Grumble]

Makes me bloody furious - the entire bloody Island was once a public right of way, but hey ho, people bought chunks to live on and the walkers had to divert round the (now) private land.

 

Mrs Clarkson is Manx and the daughter of the only Manx VC, so if (under some flawed crab logic) HE doesn't deserve any rights to privacy, I'm bloody sure that SHE does. PROWL should be ashamed of themselves - if it was my land I'd ban them from every single inch of it and employ security guards to patrol the perimeter with air horns and cameras until 'ramblers' got the message.

[jim]

I think this is all blown masively out of proportion, correct me if I'm wrong (I've not been out there for a while) but the piece of his land that he has fenced of is a tiny strech looking out to sea from the east side of his house, just a few meters, you can still walk round the entire peninsular you just have to walk round the perimeter of the cottages to skip these few meters.

 

Else were on the Island there are vast swathes of the coast line that is closed to the public any one who has tried to walk round the Island will know this.If you want to campaign for something campaign for the right to walk round the whole Island don't take your anger out on one man who is happy for you to enter 99% of his land.

 

I do get the feeling that a lot of people have jumped on this band wagon because of who he is.

 

And who came up with the name Prowl, makes them sound like a bunch of stalkers, probably the exactly the type of person who he is trying to avoid.

[Lonan3]

So many landmines, so little time.

[Amadeus]

Oh dear, is that whole affair still going? I'd re-activate COPROWL, but I can't be arsed - the joke's over (at the time, what amused me most was that the guy at the front of the PROWL campaign lives in a house surrounded by walls and an iron gate - double-standards, sir...)

 

edit: just noticed that the website is still there - thought it had expired by now.. clickey

[Silentbob]

I am sorry, but seeing what happened to a friend of mine (he has a cottage which he agreed vehicular access to via the adjoining farm's lane. He then - based on that vehicular access - got planning for a garage on the side of his garage. 20 odd years later, the farm was sold, and the tosser who bought it decided that he would not allow vehicular access to the cottage owner any longer, and fenced the driveway off on the farm lane. So now he has a garage with no access to it, all because the tosser who bougth the farm wanted the cottage as well.) I really cannot see that any length of time has any effect on a landowners rights to stop people setting foot on his/her land.

[puddy]

Why doesn't Clarkson put up signs on his land saying "Private land, no trespassing, beware of the bull, etc" like some delightful people in the north of the Island have.

 

There is no bull and I can't imagine why anyone would want to walk through their shitty fields either, nobody did before they moved over here and bought the land. But they're here, they're comeovers, they want our land and they want us to bloody know about it, so they've got their signs out and they're proud of it too. Weirdos.