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For the benefit of those not on facebook (which, whatever you think of it, is a useful tool for asking a public question)
Apologies for crappy quoting;
(From me)
Question for the Southwest reviewers; Now that GAGB have posted the letter from the MOD explicitly saying they claim no control over areas not owned by the MOD (ie, everywhere but Willsworth); has the temporary ban on listing caches in Okehampton and Merrivale ranges been lifted? (If there’s any confusion amongst reviewers which are is which, I’d be happy to advise)
Like · · Unfollow Post · Share · 22 hours ago
Chris Dale No is the answer, the ban stays for now. If you look at the OS map of Dartmoor, the Willsworth range (MOD owned) has no obvious clear boundary to the Okehampton range to it’s east or the Merrivale range to the south. The whole area of all 3 ranges is outlined with red triangles. That is all we have to go on. We need the maps from the MOD to show exactly what is MOD estate and what is not. At the moment the ‘ban’ we imposed is just to stop new caches being placed until such time as know for certain where things are. Can you imagine the outcry if we used this arbitrary boundary to say which caches had to be removed and which could stay?
20 hours ago · Like
(Me) Well, actually – Willsworthy is a bit special. It was gifted to the War Department for their use, and the exact boundary is clearly defined by marker stones carved “WD”. Its boundary is one of the clearest defined, as it has both those *and* the modern plastic range warning poles.
I understand your reasoning though, from the perspective of somebody without local knowledge.
But… It’s clear the original widespread ban was not required, so surely a lifting of all areas would be fairer and allow the game to continue, whilst making it clear that when the MOD *do* officially ban it, with accurate mapping to that effect (and they can’t expect any ban to be applied without that information), that all geocaches on that land, including the eight historical geocaches within Willsworthy and any that fall within these grounds, will be archived? As it is, the reviewers don’t have enough information to apply a ban, other than what seems to be an over-reactive “Let’s ban everywhere on Dartmoor the MOD goes” even after the MOD have stated very clearly they cannot ban the majority currently banned.
Those original maps were both inaccurate and premature, and in my mind, need ignoring soonest as it gives entirely the wrong impression that geocaching.com do not want us using Dartmoor (against the statements of both the landowner (Duchy) and the principle land manager (Dartmoor National Park) – both of whom actively encourage it)
If you wanted to hedge safely on the OKehampton range boundary, why not just restrict anything within, say, a mile of that? It would go a long way to restoring faith in the fairness of this system, which has been quite dented of late.
13 hours ago · Like
Chris Dale The Willsworthy range is the only one the MOD mentioned that they own. There are many, many more areas around the whole country that they have not mentioned. Can you imagine the outcry if we ‘opened’ the Merrivale and Okehampton ranges to cachers but not any others? I don’t think that would restore fairness in the system at all, would it? It is best to wait until the MOD gives us the maps then it can all be done nice and tidily.
12 hours ago · Like
Simon Avery That logic makes no sense. That land is not owned by the mod, its not fair to restrict it in their name. I genuinely don’t understand your viewpoint, this is like banning geocaches in Devon, Cornwall and Somerset because of a decision pending in Cornwall.
11 hours ago via mobile · Like
Peter Bowyer No, it’s like making sure all of the detail is to hand, triple-checking everything, and making a decisive move. One which will stick and not be liable to variation or mis-interpretation. Which is a very sensible thing indeed. No lives are at risk if some areas of Devon do not have any new caches deployed for a few weeks more.
10 hours ago · Like · 2
Fil Northerner I’m with the reviewers here… What is the rush to publish new caches ? Locations can be scouted out while the ban is in force – and then they can be published when there is a definitive map of MOD land holdings available – assuming that the MOD don’t own the land you want to put a cache on