Wales Outdoors have decided not to pay for membership of the South Wales Outdoor Activity Providers Group. Ethically we stand firmly against paying for access to freely available landscapes. The fee introduced by the group is not a membership fee, as it would like members to see it, but a charge on the use of The Sychryd and Meltte rivers for gorge walking. Non members are prohibited from using these venues.
This following notification from the group is disingenuous. On the one hand it states 'membership fees' have been agreed and on the other it states that it is fighting against fees being introduced for the use of the River Wye for paddling...
'The Meeting agreed that SWOAPG should (a) introduce membership fees (which has now been done); (b) become a (not-for-profit) Company Limited Guarantee (which will be progressd soon); and (c) resist the payment of the threatened 'paddle permit' fees from Glasbury-Hay (which we have done and are working closely with Canoe Wales and British Canoeing as this situation evolves).'
The legality of such a decision is in question. Certainly the duality of concept is undefendable.
For a long time now Wales Outdoors have been pursuing SWOAPG to enforce the concordat for use of The Sychryd and to look again at numbers allowed by providers in The Mellte. Despite a good deal of evidence of providers working outside of the concordat the group has been unable to encourage providers to work within it's guidelines, making the concordat simply a document rather than a rule.
So we have 'members' who have signed up to the concordat for the use of these rivers working outside of the agreed guidelines with impunity. Worse still, no progress has been made on footwear for the gorge. Wales Outdoors have blogged many times about this. Pumps or crocs or slip on shoes for the gorge environment? The local rescue teams state that the main cause of injury in the gorges of South Wales is inappropriate footwear... What are the supposed 'Technical Advisors' thinking when they allow those business' that they underwrite to allow their clients to take part in gorge walking in such poor footwear? Shame on them all.
Wales Outdoors no longer wish to be associated with an industry that seems to be more about numbers and income as opposed to quality days and safe adventures and so the issue of charging providers for use of a natural environment has forced our hand - we are out and we happily stand alone amongst South Wales Based Adventure Activity Providers. We want nothing to do with them.
Finally, the question ought to be asked 'why are we here?' And that question can be adequately answered by pointing the finger at those larger providers who have swamped the area with multiple groups, creating parking chaos and so local resident disaffection. It is these providers that have grown too large and, without thought for the environment or other users, have pressured all. Something had to be done but SWOAPG have taken a misguided route and one that serves those larger providers and not the Adventure Activity Professional or clients of such.
http://www.walesoutdoors.co.uk
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