Says Bob Milton

Given the terrible news regarding Chobham common and the decision to enclose large tracks of this equestrian access common perhaps the following, an anonymous protest poem from the 17th century summing up the anti-inclosure feeling, would be again relevant:

The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
But leaves the greater villain loose
Who steals the common from the goose.
The law demands that we atone
When we take things we do not own
But leaves the lords and ladies fine
Who take things that are yours and mine.
The poor and wretched don’t escape
If they conspire the law to break;
This must be so but they endure
Those who conspire to make the law.
The law locks up the man or woman
Who steals the goose from off the common
And geese will still a common lack
Until they go and steal it back.

Adds Bob Milton

"For Lord and ladies we should now read Natural England "

We also desperately need evidence of problems of access caused by the introduction or construction of self closing gates whether on farms or commons over the last five years or so. Do those gates still exist if so can we have photos and grid references or descriptions. Have riders just stopped using routes just because of the danger associated with self closing gates. Please