Without any warning or fanfare today, the Minister for Parks (Mick Gentleman) released the long awaited revised Canberra Nature Park Reserve Management Plan. This document is now law having been approved by the Legislative Assembly. . You can read it at https://hdp-au-prod-app-act-yoursay-files.s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/9716/3688/0713/Canberra_Nature_Park_Reserve_Management_Plan_2021.pdf
The new Plan reflects most of the arguments ACTEA made in regard to the Draft which was produced for public comment way back in September 2019. The highly contentious Appendix 5 has been deleted altogether. Any mention of pathogen spread is not aimed at horses only but appears in sections to do with cycling and walking. The ridiculous number of photographs of mountain bikes have been reduced and there are 2 nice pics of horse riders. While there is no mention of specific new access for horses the Plan does commit to considering additional equestrian trails in the Reserve system and spells out its criteria for creating them. ACTEA already has a list and will be engaging with Parks as soon as possible.
Because no one seems able to deal with large documents here is attachment listing the relevant sections on horses and horse riding in the Plan.
