Access to countryside
The Government's programme for opening up the countryside to improve public access and enjoyment reached a milestone today, with the laying before Parliament of regulations on how restrictions and exclusions of access will operate.
The regulations are the latest stage in the implementation of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, under which the public will have a new right of access to England's mountain, moor, heath, down and registered common land by the end of 2005.
Alun Michael, Minister for Rural Affairs, commented:
"Our aim is to strike a balance between the benefits to be gained from increased public access and the practical considerations which must be taken into account to make this work successfully.
"These regulations demonstrate the Government's commitment to broadening access to the countryside in a way that is sensitive to the needs of land managers."
The regulations were drawn up after an extensive consultation exercise, launched in December 2001, which sought the views of a diverse range of organisations, lobby groups, and conservation bodies.
The resulting restrictions regime is designed to combine maximum flexibility for land managers with minimum bureaucracy necessary to give confidence in the system. The regime is one tool for managing access effectively, and land managers are encouraged to explore informal management techniques before seeking directions to restrict access.
They will be able to restrict or exclude access to land for up to 28 days a year for any purpose, and those with a legal interest in the land will be able to apply for additional restrictions or exclusions where this is necessary for land management, safety and fire prevention reasons.
Restrictions or exclusions on grounds of nature conservation or heritage preservation can also be made by the relevant authorities - the National Park Authority where access land falls within a National Park, the Forestry Commission where land voluntarily dedicated for access is comprised mainly of woodland, and the Countryside Agency in all other cases. Restrictions and exclusions for defence and national security purposes may be imposed by the Secretary of State for Defence or the Home Secretary.
The restrictions system will open for applications in each region in time to allow the necessary restrictions to be granted before access commences. To ensure this, applications will, in some cases, need to be made while the maps of access land produced by the Countryside Agency are still provisional. If appeals are made against decisions it may not always be possible for these to be resolved before the right of access comes into force and, in these cases, land will be open while the appeal process takes place.
An overview of the restrictions regime is published on the Defra website at http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/cl/accessopen.htm.
Detailed guidance to land managers will be issued by the Countryside Agency before the restrictions system opens for business in the lead mapping areas in 2004.
