Monday May 20 sees a historic meeting taking place at Westminster, London between the National Angling Alliance, the Angling Trades Association, the Environment Agency and government officials.

Among those in attendance will be new National Federation of Anglers head Bob Clark and Labour MP and keen coarse angler Martin Salter.

Martin, MP for Reading West, has been a long time campaigner for angling to get its house in order and forge stronger links with government.

Sports minister Richard Caborn will be attendance, and among areas schedulesd in for discussion are youth development in angling, access and application for lottery funding, the condition of the UK’s rivers and predation from cormorants.

Martin Salter said that angling had ‘punched below its weight’ for too long compared to other sports with less participants. He said he hoped this first angling summit would be the start of a new relationship in which angling will ‘cease to be regarded as a quirky pastime’. If successsful, he added, it would be the first of many.