Enjoying a walk in the country is one of the great pleasures of living in places like Dorset – the countryside is spectacular and coastal and inland walks form one of the key ingredients of our successful tourism industry.

Land owners and farmers fully understand the contribution access to our countryside makes not just to our tourist industry, but to the wider community and to the efforts the industry is making to reconnect people with where their food comes from. 

It would be bizarre if, as an industry, we were calling on people to support local food on the one hand and crying: “Get off my land” on the other.

So access is understood and, generally at least, welcomed - the problems arise where visitors fail to appreciate that the countryside is also a place of work where the land, livestock, machinery wildlife and environment need to be respected.

It is also easy for those of us who live and work in the countryside to forget that visitors to our rural home are not so aware of the issues, risks and responsibilities as we are – or ought to be.

Never does access become more of an issue than where dogs are concerned. Access rights apply to people, not dogs but we would be naïve indeed to underestimate the importance people attach to being able to walk their dogs in the countryside. But where we see man’s best friend, animals see a predator – and if those animals happen to be large cattle with claves at foot, problems can follow.

That’s why the CLA is calling for common-sense to be allowed to prevail and asking MPs to back a measure which would allow landowners to divert footpaths on a temporary basis where there is a risk of harm to the public, dogs or livestock.

The move comes in response to the report of an influential group of MPs and peers which has called for more action to tackle the growing problem of livestock worrying.

Statistics show that between 2013 and 2017 more than 1800 farm animals have been killed, more than 1600 have been injured and more than 90 dogs have been shot in ‘worrying’ incidents. But legislation relating to livestock worrying dates back to the 1950’s and because not all incidents are reported, the CLA fears these statistics could well be just the tip of the iceberg. The solution is to make livestock worrying a recordable crime to ensure more accurate records.

There is a simple solution, which is to give landowners and local authorities the power to put in place temporary diversions of public footpaths and bridleways to reduce the risk of harm when the land is being used for animal grazing.

There are bound to be exceptions, but this is a sensible suggestion that could make a major difference for livestock farmers and for public safety.

– Let’s hope that, for once, common sense can be shown to be just that.