Kissing gates

I saw that the agenda for the last PC meeting mentioned kissing gates. I
don’t know why the P.C. was discussing this but it is important to know that
the local (Henley & Goring) Ramblers recently voted at their AGM not to
sponsor from their funds kissing gates. Among the views expressed are the following:

- there is no research to prove one way or another whether kissing gates do
increase access to the countryside to people who would not otherwise venture out;

- in some cases, access could be enhanced very simply by removing one tier
of the existing stile rather than replacing it with a gate (the stile at the end of my garden was recently ‘accidentally’ lowered to provide easier access to the field for some more ’senior’ neighbours who had complainted that it was too high for them to negotiate but there has been little evidence of that being enough to encourage them out. I suspect that the height of a stile is not what deters people for going walking…);

- gates are potentially less convenient for buggies, baby back-packs or any
other kind of rucksacs carrier and cyclists;

- with fewer and fewer animals in the countryside, it is often the case that there is not longer a need for any kind of gate or stile;

- the metal gates are hideously ugly and industrial, in stark contrast to
the rural environment;

- the purchase and installation (by volunteers) of ’sponsored’ metal gates is hugely
cost-effective for the local authority / environment agencies but at the
risk of defacing the countryside for a long time ahead (I don’t know the projected life of a galvanised gate but I presume they are expected to last longer than wooden ones which seem to have a life span of at least 50 years)

I have a personal interest in this topic as I certainly don’t want an ugly, clunky metal gate at the bottom of my garden but aesthetically, as a keen photographer and painter, I have already seen the impact of these hideously industrial ’silver’ gates in the beautiful rural scenery of South Oxfordshire.

I can’t get to the PC meeting to find out why they have kissing gates on the agenda but I would be interested to hear the views of other villagers.

This entry was posted on 23/02/2009 at 10:46 am and is filed under Footpaths. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.