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The Lake District National Park Authority
would rather use their
solicitors and threaten
legal
action than comply with the Law themselves
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For several years we have been trying to persuade the Lake District National Park Authority
[LDNPA] to fulfil their statutory obligations and
maintain our Public Rights of Way network, with particular emphasis on the routes that were
once accessible to disabled people, these include paths that even the LDNPA had identified
as being accessible for disabled people but again haven't been maintained.
Unfortunately our
efforts have failed, the LDNPA continue to ignore their statutory obligations to
protect and
maintain our Public Rights of Way network - according to the LDNPA management 'there
isn't a problem'. The LDNPA's obdurate attitude makes the PRoW unpleasant to use
for the majority of us, but it completely denies disabled people the right to
access the once
accessible Western Lake District. So we have taken photographs of many of the
PRoW in the Western Lakes so you can see for problems for yourselves.
The Public Rights of Way network
The original site cross-referenced LDNPA letters with
other letters, documents and photos to show what the problems are and how the
LDNPA were totally failing in their statutory obligations; the LDNPA were and still
are ignoring Laws, Policies and
Government advice. We had shown time and
time again that the LDNPA were failing in their duties to the public but no one
will bring them to account, with the Local Government Ombudsman and Audit
Commission believing every
word the LDNPA say.
As the web site clearly showed the LDNPA in a rather dim light and
highlighted the authority's considerably less than honest attitude they decided
to threaten legal action; not for slander,
libel or anything like that, but for breach of copyright - claiming copyright on the content of their letters. They were simply wanting to
hide the deceit they espouse and keep it away from a wider audience.
Unfortunately, the LDNPA would rather threaten legal action and abuse spurious copyright laws than fulfil their statutory
obligations. Copyright Law is
there to protect "those who create, and those who invest in
creativity"; it is not there to be abused by public bodies like the
LDNPA. The LDNPA clearly believe that they are being creative when they lie to
the public.
This revised web site contains none of the LDNPA's 'creative writing'
but it shows the full extent of the problems with our
Public Rights of Way network
in the Western Lake District. It shows the decades of neglect by the LDNPA,
unfortunatley they are still adamant 'there
isn't a problem'.
The attitude that the LDNPA reminds me of what was said in the
Introduction to the White Paper on Freedom of Information of the 11th December 1997.
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"Unnecessary secrecy in government leads to
arrogance in governance and defective decision-making. The perception of
excessive secrecy has become a corrosive influence in the decline of
public confidence in government. Moreover, the climate of public opinion
has changed: people expect much greater openness and accountability from
government than they used to." |
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The LDNPA are un-elected, unaccountable and definitely have
"arrogance in governance"
So what are the Lake District National Park Authority doing that
they want buried:
| (1) |
Discriminating
against Disabled People
The LDNPA have an Access for All
policy
yet in the past decade the National Park has become a no go area for
Wheelchair Users. The LDNPA's own documentation shows a 50% reduction in
accessible routes, why? because they haven't been maintained, yet the LDNPA have a "duty
to maintain those public rights of way that are maintainable at public
expense"
[Highways Act
1980 s 41].
The LDNPA's failure to comply with this Act is denying disabled people the
opportunity to "enjoy the special qualities of the Lake
District".
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| (2) |
Failing to maintain
the Public Rights of Way [PRoW] network
The LDNPA have a "duty
to maintain those public rights of way that are maintainable at public
expense"
[Highways Act
1980 s 41]. The LDNPA claim they have no
money to do this, but they
can find the
money to resurface a 9 month old Private Path for the Landed
Gentry when there is a perfectly acceptable
PRoW 10 feet away; yet the LDNPA repeatedly fail to maintain
our Public Rights of Way that have been neglected for over
a decade.
The Chairman of the LDNPA
has confirmed that the LDNPA do not maintain
paths that were suitable for disabled people, they simply allow them to
deteriorate to a point where disabled people are denied access to once
accessible routes.
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| (3) |
Failing to enforce the Highways
Act 1980
The LDNPA have a
"duty to assert and protect the rights of the public to the use
and enjoyment of the public rights of way" and a
"duty
to prevent as far as possible the stopping up or obstruction of those public rights of way" [Highways Act
1980 s 130].
The
LDNPA allow obstacles to be built across our Rights of
Way and fail to take enforcement action, is this because the perpetrators
give the LDNPA a big cash incentive not to take action ?
If the perpetrators
does not give the LDNPA large sums of cash action is invariably taken.
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| (4) |
Failing to enforce the
Town and Country Planning Act
The
LDNPA allow large highly visible, environmentally damaging
structures to be built in the National Park and take no enforcement action against them.
The Secretary of State for the Environment said such embankments should not
be built at Ennerdale yet the LDNPA have allowed such a structure to be
built. The LDNPA try and claim they didn't know about it, when even
Mr Bob Cartwright [Head of Park Management] knew about it. |
| (5) |
Failing to conserve and enhance the natural beauty of the National Park
The LDNPA have allowed the destruction
of the environment at numerous locations throughout the National Park. It appears that the Forestry Commission and
North West Water [United Utilities] can get away with anything; again this
appears to be a cash related issue.
Instead of sorting out the problems the LDNPA pretend the
problems don't exist and waste time and public resources trying to gain World
Heritage Site status instead.
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| (6) |
Failing to make Public Rights of Way documentation available in each
District
Both the LDNPA and Cumbria County Council
are failing on this one, they have been flouting this 'statutory duty' for
decades.
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| (7) |
The LDNPA deliberately deceive the Audit Commission |
| (8) |
The LDNPA deliberately deceive the
Local Government Ombudsman |
| (9) |
The LDNPA Solicitor abuses
the power invested in him by the Secretary of State for Transport |
| (10) |
The LDNPA abuse the
Copyright Laws to hide the evidence of their dishonest practices. They are
abusing the law not to protect "those who create, and those who invest in
creativity" but to protect their cosy jobs. |
| (11) |
The LDNPA fail to comply with
the Data
Protection Act of 1998. |
| (12) |
The LDNPA have been destroying documents ahead of the introduction of the Freedom of Information Act in January 2005.
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| (13) |
The LDNPA completely ignore
the Disability Discrimination Act of
1995.
You just need to look at their re-launched new improved website to find evidence of this
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