Walking - and the right to roam.

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Retracing the defiant walk that changed Britain

Molly Gorman

Seventy-five years after the Peak District became Britain's first national park, visitors can retrace the mass trespass that helped open the countryside to everyone.

[snip]

Having grown up on the fringes of the Peak District, I have always delighted in walking across its dramatic landscapes, while being largely unaware of its role in shaping public access to the English countryside. Today, I'm retracing those bold rebels' steps where it all began.

[snip]

"We have this idea that England's crowded, England's full. That's not the case, but it may feel like it, because there's very little land that most of us can legally access" – Jon Moses

However, the Kinder mass trespass of 24 April 1932 is often cited as the catalyst that led to the birth of England's own national park system.

[snip]

As I understand it, there is a "Right to Roam" in Scotland, but in England it's much more restricted - perhaps to National Parks.  Would anyone with a bit of knowledge on this be able to fill me in?

[ChrisB]

From Gov.uk via Google

Right to Roam in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)
In England and Wales, the right to roam is limited compared to Scotland. Access is primarily granted on open access land, which can be used for walking, horse-riding, and cycling under certain conditions. Dogs must be kept on a lead no longer than 2 meters, and some areas, called excepted land, remain private and are not accessible even if they appear on maps of open access land

Public rights of way, common lands, and the foreshore of beaches often provide additional access opportunities

[stuving]

As I understand it, there is a "Right to Roam" in Scotland, but in England it's much more restricted - perhaps to National Parks.  Would anyone with a bit of knowledge on this be able to fill me in?

Most of the kind of land that the Kinder trespass was about are now accessible. From the gov.uk page of guidance on "Open access land: management, rights and responsibilities":

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW Act) normally gives a public right of access to land mapped as open country (mountain, moor, heath or down) or registered common land. These areas are ‘open access land’.

The online maps show if the public has a right of access to land. They also have details of any local restrictions or exclusions that limit the public’s rights over them. Some of the mapped areas do not have access rights because they are excepted land.

Much of the coastal margin that’s being created as part of the work to implement the King Charles III England Coast Path (KCIIIECP) is also open access land. Open stretches of the KCIIIECP are shown on the National Trails website

Registered common land is land other than coastal margin which is registered as common under the Commons Registration Act 1965. If land ceases to be registered it will retain open access rights if it qualifies as open country or has been dedicated for access.

You are not required to create new ways for people to reach open access land over neighbouring land.

In the Scottish case the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 went further by making everywhere accessible unless it was on a list of exclusions. Here's a moderately short explanation from  Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP (i.e.lawyers) - their "what's excluded" bit starts with:

While the access rights may appear to be very extensive, they are subject to many restrictions. Land over which statutory access rights cannot be exercised includes:

▪ any land to the extent that there are buildings on it, a fixed piece of machinery or anywhere that provides an individual with privacy or shelter, such as a tent or caravan. This covers both residential and non- residential buildings;
▪ gardens around houses, caravans or tents etc., of a sufficient extent to allow a reasonable degree of privacy.

Public access rights also do not apply to:

▪ common gardens that are restricted to residents, even if they are separated from the homes themselves;
▪ schools or land used by schools, such as a playground;
▪ land that has been developed as a sports or playing field, or for a particular recreational purpose; or
▪ land on which crops are growing (in order to protect farming).

Additionally, it is not permissible to use public access rights for certain types of conduct such as to hunt, shoot or fish, or for the purpose of committing an offence such as theft or polluting water (including breaching a court order).

Obviously in both cases there are lots of complications; some written in and some that have emergaed since enactment.

[Marlburian]

Some landowners do allow public access to their private land and paths, often closing the latter for one day a year to prevent claims that  continuous access might lead to legal claims that they become fully public.

From the Savernake Estate website: "Though it is private property, the Forest's owners permit extensive public access. However, visitors are asked to note that there are NO vehicular rights of way, nor any public footpaths, anywhere in the Forest. To maintain its private status (especially to prevent the creation of vehicular rights of way) Savernake Forest's roads have to be shut on one day a year - usually the first working day of each year - in a joint operation by the Savernake Estate and their tenants the Forestry Commission. On that one day every road into the Forest is physically barriered and all cars are turned away ... Pedestrians may walk where they like, though they are asked to respect the few signs protecting the various groups of private houses scattered through the Forest."

(OK, this relates to vehicular access, but the same principal is applied elsewhere to pedestrian use.)

[CyclingSid]

Note also the long and no doubt expensive litigation about right to roam/camping on Dartmoor.