Luke The YetiJun 20, 2023
HeavenlyPossum

The United Kingdom is crisscrossed with public footpaths where the public holds a legal right to traverse.

Many of these paths are centuries old. Many of them are probably even older, dating back thousands of years to the Neolithic or older.

They predate virtually every extant property claim that could be leveraged against them. They have belonged in common to the community that uses them since before there was a British state.

And yet, the British state is in the process of handing over thousands of miles of public footpaths to private owners because these paths—older than the state—have not been registered with the state. In James Scott’s terms, they are not *legible* to the state.

But carefully surveyed, delineated, discrete parcels of private property linked to individual owners—the state’s favorite—are legible to the state. So over they go.

Enclosure never really stopped.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/public-access-paths-lost-landowners-lobby-government-therese-coffey-england/

Public to lose access to paths after landowner lobbying

Exclusive: Government U-turned on vow to abolish deadline for registering paths in England after letter from landowners

openDemocracy
Jun 20, 2023 at 11:31amWeb
Show threadHelen Lockhart Ripples CraftsJun 20, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum Fortunately for us in Scotland this doesn't apply. We are very fortunate.
Show threadHeavenlyPossumJun 20, 2023

@HelenLockhart

I am deeply envious of the Scots’ right to roam, and impressed it was never taken away

Show threadLyndeeJun 20, 2023

@HeavenlyPossum

Noooooo! I have heard about these paths and always thought the Brits did it right by allowing access to them.
Why mess with a good thing?

Show threadJosh GrantJun 20, 2023
@lynnedubois @HeavenlyPossum it's always about enclosing the commons
Show threadNighttime on Still WatersJun 20, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum "Enclosure never really stopped." And I am very worried to see that over the last year or two it beginning to escalate.
Show threadTobiWanKenobiJun 20, 2023

@nosw

Capitalists and their offspring/underlings try to grab as much property and land as possible since many of them have realized that their casino money will become worthless paper/digital numbers in an instant, once economy goes downhill thanks to climate crisis. We see this everywhere, in every country, in every region that is inhabitable.

Problem is, people allow their politicians to be bought off because most don't give a f*** until it's too late.

@HeavenlyPossum

Show threadHy VybJun 20, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum Modern politicians are just spineless scum who will bend over backwards for any lobby group, corporation, criminal oligarchs, or old school pals, that flashes them a nod and a wink.
Show threadex or current IDF unwelcomeJun 20, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum The problem goes back to when the definitive maps were set up from a load of different council records. Technically if it is not on the definitive map it isn't a public footpath. Even if it is one it may not be walkable on the ground as blocked in the past or went to something that is no longer there like a quarry. YDNPA volunteers walk every path on the definitive maps and also much open access land to keep them open in the Dales.
Show threadNicole ParsonsJun 20, 2023

@HeavenlyPossum

The rich use Enclosure Acts to achieve what they could not by buying political parties.

Want to force peasants off their land to work for pennies in a factory? Enclosure Acts

Want to immiserate the middle class? Orchestrate a financial crisis and force them to sell their homes to survive.

Want to do a land grab of public lands to inflate the value of private real estate holdings? Privatize foot paths, dykes, and hiking trails

Want to drill for oil on public or tribal lands?

Show threadNicole ParsonsJun 20, 2023

@HeavenlyPossum

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jul/09/england-water-system-last-privatised-monopolies-for-now-analysis

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_privatisation_in_England_and_Wales#:~:text=The%20water%20privatisation%20in%20England,regional%20water%20authorities%20(RWA).

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01072022/public-lands-fossil-fuel-drilling-leases-biden/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatisation_of_British_Rail

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/these-trails-are-among-the-most-popular-in-the-fraser-valley-but-theyre-slated-for-development

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/german-duke-sells-bc-land-to-nature-conservancy/article22502044/

https://vancouversun.com/business/local-business/the-duke-of-westminsters-influence-in-metro-vancouver-a-look-at-grosvenor

England’s water system: the last of the privatised monopolies – for now

Analysis: taking control of the utility would benefit consumers and, more importantly, the environment

The Guardian
Show threadTransitBikerJun 20, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum idiotic.
Show threadAlper Çuğun-GscheidelJun 20, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum Landowners lobbying should be met with quick and decisive action.
Show threadSumana HarihareswaraJun 20, 2023
@singlecrow I saw this toot and instantly wanted to know your assessment on whether this action is reasonable
Show threadJeremy KahnJun 20, 2023

@HeavenlyPossum

*Waves from the occupied #Duwamish and the rest of #TurtleIsland*

Show threadPedestriansfirstJun 20, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum This is appalling. Everyone knows (especially an ex health minister) that walking, particularly in green spaces, is good for health, especially mental health, which is in crisis. Once again this terrible government is putting the interests of a few rich pals before the welfare of the rest of us. Simply shameful. #walking #health #mentalhealth #tories
Show threadEric LawtonJun 20, 2023

@HeavenlyPossum

@AnnaAnthro

My parents immigrated to Canada but only lasted a few years before returning to England.

This was one of their reasons. No such thing here, outside parks.

Which don't have pubs near the end of a trail.

Show threadChristian Pietsch (old acct.)Jun 20, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum #rightsOfWay
Show threadHadi 🇬🇧Jun 20, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum
Damn.
I hope not.
We’re surrounded by them.
Best part of living here.
Show threadLog 🪵Jun 20, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum Freedom to Roam (Allemansratten) is a universal right, and I hope it rankles the English that Scots are more civilized in this respect.
Show threadLaura May, PhDJun 20, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum Noo! My banner image is literally a public footpath in Kent. They're one of the best things about the UK!
Show threadNancy Williams PainterJun 20, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum OMG sheep enclosure, still.
Show threadIn Search of a Better WorldJun 20, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum #RepealTheEnclosuresActs!
Show threadxitobalJun 20, 2023

@HeavenlyPossum this is so sad. It's shocking to see the difference between Britain and continental Europe in terms of public paths.
Enclosures are definerely the word.
A sanitised alt-reality of "predation on a common" that's (modern) human life old.

Like a late domino drop of the neolithic "invention" : #property

It ain't anthropocene.
It's neolithic SNAFU.

Show threadsporpJun 21, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum Americans have never really had this freedom. They can't even imagine it.
Show threadAnnabelle 🇬🇱🇨🇦🇺🇦🇪🇺Jun 21, 2023

@HeavenlyPossum

Also read Guy Standing's "Plunder of the Commons. A Manifesto for Sharing Public Wealth"

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/308407/plunder-of-the-commons-by-standing-guy/9780141990620

"The commons refers to all our shared natural resources – including the land, the forests, the moors and parks, the water, the minerals, the air – and all the social, civic and cultural institutions that our ancestors have bequeathed to us, and that we may have helped to maintain or improve."

#commons #footpaths #land #public

Plunder of the Commons

'One of the most important books I've read in years' Brian Eno We are losing the commons. Austerity and neoliberal policies have depleted our shared wealth; our national utilities have been sold off to foreign conglomerates, social housing is almost non-existent, our parks are cordoned off for private events and our national art galleries are sponsored by banks and oil companies. This plunder deprives us all of our common rights, recognized as far back as the Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest of 1217, to share fairly and equitably in our public wealth. Guy Standing leads us through a new appraisal of the commons, stemming from the medieval concept of common land reserved in ancient law from marauding barons, to his modern reappraisal of the resources we all hold in common - a brilliant new synthesis that crystallises quite how much public wealth has been redirected to the 1% in recent decades through the state-approved exploitation of everything from our land to our state housing, health and benefit systems, to our justice system, schools, newspapers and even the air we breathe. Plunder of the Commons proposes a charter for a new form of commoning, of remembering, guarding and sharing that which belongs to us all, to slash inequality and soothe our current political instability.

Show threadMrs CloudyJun 21, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum you reference "the United Kingdom". You are only talking about certain countries that are part of the United Kingdom. Devolution hasn't been revoked... yet.
Show threadJon SparksJun 24, 2023
@HeavenlyPossum It’s also conspicuous how the Government, after ‘welcoming’ the Glover Report, has done virtually nothing about implementing any of its recommendations. What chance of improving access for user groups apart from walkers (bikes, horses, canoes, kayaks, etc.)?