River Lambourn, trespassing on private property Options

[Nothing Much]

nicked some tools? Eh?
Nudge Nudge wink wink.
Sorry wrong thread!
ce

[motormad]

You could, of course, phone the police and tell them that you think a burglar is in your garden, or a stalker. The last stranger to enter my garden broke into a shed and nicked some tools.

The last black guy I hung out with liked KFC but I don't tar everyone with the same brush now do I?

[Jay Sands]

We enquired of the Environment Agency about fishing rights and I thought people might be interested in their response.

Whether fishing is allowed or not is a decision made and enforced either by the riparian owner of the water, or whoever controls the fishing rights, if, (as possibly is the case here), they’ve been separately sold/rented.

There’s actually no right to free fishing in freshwater in England or Wales regardless of whether it’s from a bridge or boat, or standing actually in the river.

All fishing rights in England are owned by someone, usually the Riparian owner who owns the land on one or both sides of a watercourse. The Riparian owner has several rights and responsibilities regarding their stretch of river, but from a fishing perspective they’re presumed to:

• Own the land up to the centre of the watercourse, (this means if they own both banks they’ll own the entire river bed as it passes through their land), – unless it is known to be owned by someone else.

• Have the right to fish in their watercourse. However, they must use a legal method and have a valid Environment Agency rod licence

• Day Tickets to fish a particular stretch of water may be sold by whoever controls the fishing rights

• Often the riparian owner will have leased, (or less frequently sold), their fishing rights, usually to Angling Clubs and Associations. Clubs and Associations may keep their waters exclusive to a small group of members, but some will sell annual “Club Books” to all comers, via the membership secretary and local fishing tackle shops. Some will also sell Day Tickets to fish a particular stretch of water.

There are a few allegedly “free” stretches of rivers, but these are only free because the riparian owner, (often the Local Authority or other Public Body), is allowing free access, they’re not free by right.

For the above reasons, there isn’t an official list of free stretches and locating them is often down to local knowledge.

I’ve spent some time researching the fishing rights in your area on the internet and found various angling websites suggesting fishing around Shaw Park is controlled by West Berkshire Council. However I can’t vouch for the accuracy of that. Other stretches of the Lambourn seem to be in private hands, including the Bagnor Estate....

http://www.rodsonrivers.com/fishing-uk/the...or-fishery_3217

....but I lack the local knowledge to recognise if their water includes the Lambourn adjacent to your home.

We’d only attend incidents if illegal fishing methods were being used in contravention of our byelaws, or if anglers were fishing without a rod licence.

[pbonnay]

I wonder if the offence of "Enclosed Premises" would apply to those climbing over a wall into a garden with the intent of stealing fish from the banks of a river?

Where there is not enough evidence for other offences such as burglary (e.g. suspects caught round the back of a house before they had broken in to the dwelling) S.4 of the old Vagrancy Act was used - the Act covered persons found in an enclosed garden, yard or outhouse for an unlawful purpose.