Get children back in the countryside (From Gazette & Herald)

Get children back in the countryside

4:02pm Wednesday 27th October 2010 in Letters By Reader's letter

LORD Young’s review on health and safety and compensation culture could herald a major and long-overdue social change: an end to the damaging effects of health and safety laws.

The Countryside Alliance Foundation (TCAF) has conducted extensive research into the perception that health and safety is the main reason schools simply do not take young people into the outdoors to engage in practical learning about the outdoors.

TCAF’s research found that local authorities paid out on average £293 in compensation per year over the last ten years.

The review proposes a radical simplification of the number of forms that schools have to complete before taking pupils on trips, bringing in a single consent form for parents to sign. Such measures, hopefully, will enable our young people to engage with the countryside and re-build people’s passion for our open spaces.

Alice Barnard, Chief Executive, The Countryside Alliance Foundation