Health and safety axe on 800-year-old right to collect firewood.

[Antaletriangle]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-firewood.html
Health and safety axe on 800-year-old right to collect firewood
By Jaya Narain
Last updated at 1:11 AM on 27th October 2008
Comments (37) Add to My Stories The right to collect firewood has been curtailed due to health and safety reasons
For the past 12 years, retired builder Mike Kamp has exercised his age-old right to collect firewood from the forest near his home.

But the health and safety axe has finally come down on an 800-year-old tradition which dates back to the Magna Carta.

Forestry chiefs say they have been forced to overrule the charter due to the 'increasing constraints' of modern legislation.

The Magna Carta of 1215 included a Forest Charter which recognised the rights of commoners to get subsistence from common land. They were granted 'estovers' - dead wood - for fuel, to repair their homes, fix tools or make charcoal.

Mr Kamp, 59, uses a wood-burning stove at his cottage near Betwys-y-Coed, North Wales, and enjoys walking through nearby Gwydir Forest. But now he has been told by Forestry Commission Wales that he can no longer buy a licence to forage.

cont.on link above.

[Swanny]

I heard about this on the radio today, it's bloody ridiculous

[Koyaanisqatsi]

of course, why give any sense of independence to the people. we must be spoon fed from the shiny corporate buisnesses after our implanted microchip is approved for the transaction of course

[Antaletriangle]

I know mate-crazy times in the land.

[Dantheman62]

Simple, don't buy a license to forage anymore, just forage away! Wow, this is unreal, what, do they have a shortage of wood there?

[Koyaanisqatsi]

in the remote mountainous areas of romania there are many poverty-stricken areas. the people that live there built their homes out of timber from the forests-very crude structures by western standards. they also use wood to heat their homes in winter. the romanian govnmt rounded up much of the wilderness area under some rules claiming to protect the environment. the people in this area are not allowed to get any wood now and most are unemployed, they live of the land. still, many of them go under the cover of darkness and procure what they need from the forest just to survive as the winters there in the hills can be pretty brutal. fortunately for these people the enforcement of these laws is not very good. when i saw how these folks live off the land and depend on it i was absolutely sickened by this government intrusion. these are totally remote towns, no tourism, no buisiness, just the locals. to me this is just the gvnmts way to force these people into their cities and live in slavery there. yes they are poor but they are not slaves, yet. they are also some of the nicest people i ever met. and much to my chagrin they are also some of the healthiest and happiest people i have ever met. a sober awakening from what i am used to seeing in the west... obesity, drug addiction, depression, crime, and fear.


so it does not surprise me that this garbage is happening in the uk.

very sad.

[Swanny]

The nanny state at work again

[warngen]

HA! They talk about "health and saftey" issues, yet they continue to flouridate our water, contaminate our atmosphere, and process our food?! Give me a break! >[