HAVE I seen too many summers, am I old-fashioned or do I really reflect the thoughts of the silent majority when I say the rural community is being swamped in signage, health and safety?

Dignitaries called on to open parks, buildings and developments of all descriptions turn out in their very best, only to be told by some official to don a reflective jacket and hard hat before planting the tree or cutting the ribbon. It's daylight, with no careless, hammer-dropping workers overhead, but you can't be too careful - or can you?

I believe we are reducing our lives to an anodyne state, limiting experience to on-screen happenings and restricting risk to computer workouts.

Why should a famous person, local politician or civic leader dress up like a Teletubby to perform these simple acts?

Signage is spreading an air of the suburbs over otherwise attractive country lanes and byways. Recently signs of all descriptions have been planted all over the area, even on rough tracks heading into the hills - and why do we need to be told that we are entering a different council area by a gaudy logo?

I am told that owners of rock faces used for climbing now have to erect "danger" signs. Where are the objectors to these ridiculous HSE rulings?

The power given to these prevention bodies is far greater than most people realise. They can stop events, close shops and industrial premises, even curtail a shoot on private land or shut down a prvate party. The HSE works in cahoots with Environmental Health so, if the first one doesn't get you, the second probably will.

Risk assessments are now the order of the day on farms, in all business and at all public functions. They are incredibly time-consuming and force up the costs of liability insurance.

Consider the village day of open gardens for charity. You must have a risk assessment and, if you are uneasy about doing it, there is a consultant to do it for you. He will be an expert because he used to work for the rule-makers.

Where are the public loos and hand washing facilities? Who will be responsible for the care of the sick and accident-prone? Are you providing food? Is the preparation area approved?

Diseases lurk, so beware, but so. too, do potential claimants. If it rains, the church will act as an attraction with its lovely stained glass; perhaps there's an organ recital over the tea and cakes, but what if an elderly person stumbles on that raised tombstone in the chancel or a pew tips over on to someone?

At the Yorkshire Agricultural Society's children's days in June, everyone with a stand, an exhibit or on duty has to complete a risk assessment and be instructed on the Child Protection Act. If a child falls, don't touch it; if it's crying, leave well alone, and if you have chicks or lambs there don't let kids touch them without either rubber gloves or a thorough wash down afterwards, and woe betide you if you try to do so.

A lot of children these days want to ride horses and, once they start, frequently part company with their steed, with occasional damage, ranging from bruises to breaks. Pony Clubs and riding schools are being hammered out of existence by the costs of public liability insurance brought on by the fad for what is now called "compo" in the business.

This is made even more frightening when you realise that records of all accidents to children have to be retained until the individual is 21, in case there is a case for courtroom compo in the future.

On farms, we have been blissfully unaware of public liability in the past, but all that has to change. Anyone visiting your land is considered at risk for, while we are immune to most bugs and bacteria, the high-hygiene visitor is not. A lick from a friendly cow or a scratch on a piece of barbed wire can escalate into compensation.

It is perverse that many of us who keep cows are at the older end of the farming generations, yet we are required by law to ear-tag our calves at birth, just when mum is at her most protective, for which the HSE has no practical advice. We are, of course, sensible and respect nature and ignore the rules, but in every day life that is not possible.

In the decade ending in March last year, 35 farmers were killed in such circumstances, while nine members of the public suffered a similar fate. The HSE publishes a book on the subject, putting the onus on the farmer yet providing no views on the answer being to restrict access to areas where cows are running with newborn calves. So much power, yet no sensible problem solving. This is made even more ridiculous when the future holds even greater freedom in the countryside.

I have to go to London quite a lot. When will the safety experts study the problems of traveling at more than 100mph on two steel rails while standing unsecured for three hours. It happens and, on arriving in the Metropolis, you are forced into a tube train at a density far tighter than we would ever imagine for livestock.

Travel at 80mph on a clear, dry motorway three or four times and it can cost you your licence and a few hundred pounds, yet at weekends we are subject to flagrant, rarely apprehended, law breakers on motorbikes on our rural roads.

We live in a society in which health and safety can overule commonsense and where the slightest transgression can result in courtroom action, which could well give rise to future generations who will not move without money-back assurances in case of mishaps. Accidents will happen, sometimes with tragic results, but that is part of life. By eliminating risk we will destroy a lot of pleasure and, certainly, the relative freedom I enjoyed in the fields of my youth is something of the past. I believe life in the future will be all the poorer because of over-regulation.