Potential Site Location w/ map and photos

[Ian_Gere]

Actually Trespassing is not a criminal offence and the police can't do anything about it. There is an offence called Aggravated Trespass which is where 2 or more people trespass with some intent or other, I forget, but it's basically to stop people having raves on farmland. To get coppers involved you need to claim the trespassers have either committed Criminal Damage or one of the offences that replaced 'Disturbing The Peace' under the Public Order Act.

Since your rental of the site for airsoft is a lawful activity, and anyone simply loitering on the right of way prevents you carrying it out, then you have a good case to have them arrested for Harassment under the '97 Act, but also bear in mind that even swearing at somebody can be considered 'Threatening Behaviour' so don't do it yourself and use it as the excuse to call the old bill if you can provoke any pains-in-the-arse, subtly of course, into swearing at you.

 

[Moose87]

ahhh cunning like the fox!!! i doubt it will happen but knowledge of how deal with it like that is always handy

 

[fivezerothree]

After a few more rounds of email ping pong with Lancashire County Council's Public Right of Way Dept I got a clearer picture.

They said:

We are supportive of your proposal in principle and if you find an alternative location I am happy to advise suitable measures regarding any public rights of way that may be on the site. I would like to see something with the greatest chance of success, which means keeping customers happy, which means minimal interruptions from public. I would stress that it is not necessarily that you need fewer public rights of way on the site but arranged in such a way that potential conflict could be managed more easily.

What they have also said is that if by holding the event and a walker decides not to walk down a particular path from seeing the activity from a distance and complains, I am technically committing an offense. Or rather the Council would like me to believe that.

It's a very murky piece of legislation at best and when thrown into a grey area like this there is no clarity whatsoever.

 

[Nickona]

It might be easier for you if you moved the footpaths to the edge of the site so they didn't have to walk through it

 

[fivezerothree]

It might be easier for you if you moved the footpaths to the edge of the site so they didn't have to walk through it

Moving footpaths requires a great deal of work and a really good reason. I am in talks with the head of the department and have mentioned it in my last email. I assume he will enlighten me about it,

 

[Ian_Gere]

If I were you, I'd assume he's a dick and that he'll just ignore that part of your proposal. As you say, it's murky. It's the old bill who'll decide whether or not to arrest you, so it's their attitude towards the specific possibility of walkers being deterred that matters. You might also want to see if you can find out what your local Crown Prosecution Service attitude is, because ultimately they decide whether to go forward with a prosecution. I'm not sure whether they will give advice on possibilities to the gen pub though. They probably would talk to another lawyer, even if just off the record. Some solicitors do a £5 advice service...

 

[Mike636]

Just Google map'd Deeply Vale Lane it's only about half an hour from me, how's discussions with the council coming ?

 

[fivezerothree]

Just Google map'd Deeply Vale Lane it's only about half an hour from me, how's discussions with the council coming ?

Good in principle – there's not a lot they can do about it as I have found out. There are just some issues that need to be constantly in mind. The ceasefire scenarios were discussed mostly and the council we're worried that if walkers were put off by people wielding RIFs it would be classed as deterring the public away from a public footpath which I could be prosecuted with.

As long as people shout ceasefire and repeat the shout if they heard it then proceed to guns on the deck it shouldn't be an issue, We would be certainly doing everything possible in our power and then the marshals can advice an alternate safer route or escort them if they are being fannies about it.

Edit: I'm also bothered about the frequency of walkers. I cannot guarantee it will always be zero or a few. It's also weather dependant – I'm pretty sure there will be more instances such as these in great weather. That alone makes me wonder whether people would return if we had more than a few on one particular day. People are paying to play afterall and not to be told to stop frequently.

 

[Mike636]

Well you could always spend a couple of hours at the site on a decent day, and just get an idea of how many walkers pass through then multiply that until you get to your desired finish time and that should give you a rough idea to work from. Also checked a couple of walking websites and there do not seem to be any published routes near, the closest one to the golf club (I used the postcode) is 9 miles away on the other side of the M66. So the majority of walkers would be locals who I'm sure would be very amicable especially if your bringing business to the local area.

 

[fivezerothree]

Well you could always spend a couple of hours at the site on a decent day, and just get an idea of how many walkers pass through then multiply that until you get to your desired finish time and that should give you a rough idea to work from. Also checked a couple of walking websites and there do not seem to be any published routes near, the closest one to the golf club (I used the postcode) is 9 miles away on the other side of the M66. So the majority of walkers would be locals who I'm sure would be very amicable especially if your bringing business to the local area.

Well what they do is usually start either from the A680 which is north of the site and walk down. Others start South West-ish on Walmersley Old Road (near the Masons Arms) and walk up that way, they use bridleways etc before getting to the public footpaths.

But I'm having a few airsoft pros come up and have a look at it soon to get a better feel!

 

[fivezerothree]

Well you could always spend a couple of hours at the site on a decent day, and just get an idea of how many walkers pass through then multiply that until you get to your desired finish time and that should give you a rough idea to work from. Also checked a couple of walking websites and there do not seem to be any published routes near, the closest one to the golf club (I used the postcode) is 9 miles away on the other side of the M66. So the majority of walkers would be locals who I'm sure would be very amicable especially if your bringing business to the local area.

Yeah it's be business and volunteering opportunities with inclusive training eventually. I would rack up a deal with St John's Ambulance and see if I can find a relevant H&S course of sorts.

 

[NickM]

The door bell system would work, fairly well, ring the bell or blow the airhorn on entering and leaving the site for example would work. There is a public footpath that runs the parallel to the boundary 1 ft away for the full length of the site at one place I play they just have an "if you see a walker shout guns down, everyone puts their guns on the floor, the marshal will call when its clear" in their safety brief.

Another site has paths that cross the site so they put up a length of mine tape ( red white plastic stuff) with a small sign on either end saying to shout loudly to make their presence known or points to an alternative route. Then the same guns down procedure above kicks in.