Charging for access to United Utilities Land

Q. Hi

Someone told me that The Water Authorities are going to start charging people to walk on their land .

Is this true?

Thanks,

Greg Broomshaw, Preston

A. The Outdoor Industry Association and The BMC have both issued press releases in recent weeks describing plans by United Utilities to charge for access to those parts of their land which are covered by the CRoW act.

It seems that charges will be levied on 'commercial' activities. i.e. Charges will be levied on any activity that has some element of payment unless the organisers can demonstrate that the primary purpose of the event is educational or is for a charity. In these cases, charges will be 'waived'.

Payment will be collected via a license fee (of between £30 and £50) per event plus a charge of £1 per head. But this permit scheme will not apply to groups accessing UU CroW land via public rights of way.

CRoW allows landowners to charge for commercial activities. So is it unreasonable for UU to want a share of profits from companies using their land for business?

But what needs to be done to ensure right of free access for individuals?

Or is this all just the thin end of the wedge and result in a precedent that will soon be exploited by other Utility companies such as Yorkshire Water or other land owners?

Let us know what you think.

Hope this helps

Mike (Editor)

A. I have no problem with UU charging organisations who use their land for corporate activities.

Any use designed to attract large numbers of people is going to produce damage/litter, and that has to be put right afterwards.

Corporate use could be anything; eg: high ticket price networking events, rock festivals, caravan rallies etc.

I feel sure that UU would offer their land free for some events; eg: Run for Life and other charity sponsor events where participants have to pay an up-front levy.

The contra-publicity would be too great to do otherwise. When they do charge, however, I would like to see part of the tariff ring-fenced for the clean-up (maybe by the local council?).

Janet Georgiou, Wootton Bassett

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