Decision could be end for hunt ban
The master of a hunt in Northamptonshire has welcomed new guidelines that mean police will no longer have to monitor meets, and said it could mean the end for the hunting ban.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) unanimously agreed that the ban, which came into force in 2004, was difficult to uphold and should no longer be a top priority for officers.
Richard Brunstrom, Acpo spokesman on rural affairs, said breaching the Hunting Act was not a serious offence and needed "sophisticated" operations to enforce.
Colin Richmond-Watson, joint master of the Grafton Hunt in Northamptonshire, agreed and said the hunting fraternity was moving towards its own code of conduct to replace the law.
He said: "I think the new guidelines recognise reality and the fact that the police, like any organisation, only have so many resources.
"Northamptonshire Police have been very good and we have liaised constantly with them since the hunting ban. We have never had any problems.
"It has always been a bad law because it is virtually unenforceable.
"As a hunting community, we are quite prepared to sign up to a voluntary code of conduct and to a proper structured self-policing authority to which people can submit complaints so that we are not back to where we were."
The new guidelines would also mean hunts no longer needed to tell police forces the details of their routes or their meets, which most famously take place on Boxing Day.
Mr Richmond-Watson added: "We are a responsible community. We accept that people have concerns about hunting and we don't want anybody who is going to repeal the act to be open to accusations that they have been partisan.
"We're going to make any code of conduct transparent because we've got nothing to hide."
The League Against Cruel Sports welcomed publication of Acpo's new guidance on the Hunting Act.
A spokesman said: "These guidelines are very clear in stating that the duty of the police is to enforce the law of the land as enacted by Parliament.
"Acpo have also stated that the police will work with organisations such as the League Against Cruel Sports and will continue to rely on them to collect evidence and report incidents of illegal hunting much in the same way as neighbourhood watch acts as the eyes and ears for the police."
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