With the Right to Roam and wild camp on Dartmoor recently upheld by the Supreme Court, the question of land rights has risen even further up the public agenda.
Land is full of competing priorities. There is regular conflict between the needs of housing and farming, and more recently rewilding has entered the fray. In recent years, the leisure use of land has also made headlines, with campaigners fighting for better public access to land in England and Wales, akin to the access rights that are free to all in Scotland.
But what would this mean for farmland? How does this work alongside fields of crops? How would livestock be kept safe? And how do farmers feel about this?
History of land access
The public rights of way network and National Parks didn’t exist a century ago. In 1932, a group of ramblers trespassed on Kinder Scout to protest about the lack of public access to land. This proved to be one of the key turning points behind the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act being passed in 1949, followed by the Peak District being established as the first National Park in 1951. This legislation was updated over the years, most recently in 2000 with the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 which introduced Open Access land on ‘unimproved’ land such as mountains and moorland.
As part of the 1949 Countryside Act, Rights of Way were established and there are currently more than 140,000 miles of public footpaths, bridleways and byways across England and Wales that include farmland, woodland, moorland and urban routes. However this network only covers 0.2% of non-Open Access land.
Land ownership and use
There is a well cited statistic from Guy Shrubsole’s book, Who Owns England that half of England is owned by less than 1% of its population – just 25,000 landowners. Digging down further into this, the figures continue to surprise – 30% of these are aristocracy and gentry, 18% corporations, and 17% oligarchs and bankers.
So how much of our land is farmland? Recent Government data puts 16.8 million hectares in the UK – 69% of the land – as ‘utilised agricultural area’ (arable, horticulture, fallow, grassland and common grazing land), and just over a third of this is suitable for crops.
What is a Right to Roam?
The current Open Access land covers only 8% of the land in England, and often the most remote parts of it. The Right to Roam campaign is fighting for access rights in England and Wales akin to those found in Scotland – granted through the Land Reform (Scotland) Act in 2003. A key point: this right of responsible access does not give you access to go everywhere. For example, land in which crops are growing is exempt from access and instead you are limited to the margins of these fields, and as with existing Open Access land in England, houses and gardens are also exempt.
It would, however, give people the right to walk (responsibly) through a lot of farmland such as pasture, including that with livestock in, and round the margins of cropped land.
The challenges of access
From littering to gates being left open to an increase in dog attacks, many farmers have a tale to tell about the problems caused by careless walkers or people deliberately abusing the access rights. This has made some farmers reluctant to support the right to roam, but Amy-Jane Beer from Right to Roam explains that addressing these issues requires a collaborative approach; “These are issues of shared responsibility for farmers and landowners, the public and the statutory bodies, with funding needed for both infrastructure and public education.”
Right to Roam is also addressing the concerns around ‘dog worrying’ head on. “A report by the National Police Chiefs Council suggested around two thirds of incidents were by unaccompanied dogs (which presumably have local origins), suggesting the problem is far from exclusively associated with dog walkers,” Amy-Jane explains; “We need a deep and wide national conversation and legislation to reset our attitude to dog ownership and our understanding of dog impact.” Their policy proposals range from licensing for breeders, pet registration, owner certification, and a clear dog-walkers code.
The voice of the unions
The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has opposed the move, with Livestock board chair David Barton saying; “As farmers, we welcome the public’s access to the countryside, but it’s important to remember that rights of way must be managed responsibly. We need a network that balances public access with productive farming – one that is fit for the future, respects working farmland and promotes safety in accordance with the Countryside Code. A wider ‘right to roam’ risks unintended consequences, such as putting the public at risk in a working farmed environment and disturbing or damaging wildlife habitats.”
Other voices are in favour though, with the Landworkers’ Alliance supporting the Right to Roam in their 2023 Manifesto, stating; “If landowners are paid for nature recovery it should be a requirement that the public has greater access. However, this access must be supported by educational schemes to increase public understanding of the need to protect wildlife and farm animals from disturbance, especially during breeding season.”
What about individual farmers?
A lot of farmers recognise the wider benefits that it could bring. Ailean Colthart from North Argyle thinks some of the concerns are unfounded; “A lot of the claims are overexaggerated, and what we actually need is more public awareness and education about responsible and respectful access,” he explains. He believes it’s a key part of making food production more of a priority too. “Having people on the land allows a better understanding of agriculture and helps people to value farmers, which is beneficial for both the general population and farmers.”
This is a sentiment echoed by Humphrey Lloyd, a market gardener based on Three Hares Organic farm near Bristol; “I support the Right to Roam because a society in which more people have experienced the joys of nature will be one in which more people are more likely to protect it.”
For others though, it can be tricky to balance their support for the movement with the practical realities on the ground. Neil and Leigh Heseltine from Hill Top Farm in Malham see a huge amount of traffic on the current rights of way that cross 75% of their fields, and open access on their hill land. “Generally we’re really supportive and welcome people visiting and experiencing the countryside as much as possible,” Neil explains; “However we have issues from a small number of people who don’t respect the land or wildlife, and while we support a lot of the wider aims of the campaign, my one concern is that the Right to Roam would make people feel like they had a greater freedom to act in this way.”
Working together
Right to Roam has recognised that they need to work with farmers in order to understand their perspective, and at the start of this year launched their Access Friendly Farmers and Landowners (AFFLO) group.
“We were approached by a couple of farmers who supported the campaign goals and realised there must be more,” Amy-Jane explains. “Often they are quiet voices, who find it hard to speak out against powerful lobbyists in their sector, or to disagree publicly with friends, neighbours, and associates. As non-farmers ourselves, we needed lived experience, real world case studies, and tried and tested solutions to some of the perceived issues around access.”
The group is made up of a diverse range of farmers across different sectors. “There are practical concerns around liability, insurance, dogs, funding but more than anything we’ve realised that much of the anxiety around access comes from social isolation,” Amy-Jane continues. “Most now work alone, their conversations about land are limited to other farmers, corporate agribuisness operators, or statutory officials and very seldom include other local people. They need reconnection and community as much as we do.”
Where now?
As recognised by Right to Roam, farmers need to be involved in shaping changes in land access, and their voices and concerns should be listened to and acknowledged. But as Humphrey points out, “Surely those lucky enough to own land should at least be prepared to allow others to pass through it from time to time.”
Good article – but I must add to ‘ The public rights of way network and National Parks didn’t exist a century ago’ – that in the previous few hundred years most land was ‘enclosed’ in various ways to the detriment of small farmers and country dwellers ( which before the Industrial Revolution was most people!) We were excluded from our shared land and have suffered greatly from that since….. So it is merely a return to being able to walk over the land that is being called for – most of us are not going to take a cow, pigs or geese with us!!
As a landowner myself I welcome people on the land I guardian… People will not learn to behave well in nature until they are allowed to engage with it. Unfortunately in the UK most of our land is farmed, there is very little wild or unchanged by our actions over time – so public access will be on farmed land, we need to make clear acceptable ways of moving across the landscape that do not impinge/impede the working farmer or the walker or all the other creatures we share the land with!!
As a rule of thumb:
An empty field full of acid green sileage has no public footpath.
The field with sheep in has a public footpath.
By far the most part of this country is pastoral and large parts of it are empty.
I’ve been told off by His Local Lordship Chair of the Parish Council for wandering along the hedgerows of an empty field that has a public footpath through it. In my own village.
The only interesting bit of the average UK pastoral field is the hedgerows (if you’re lucky enough to have them).
He claimed not to block footpaths. Just round the corner he had marked off an area over a footpath route and put horses in it.
I no longer live in a village.
Go figure whose side I’m on.