‘The new government must plan to provide better access for people, for their recreation and enjoyment, and for their health and well-being.’
It’s been 92 years since around 500 walkers made their way from the village of Hayfield to plateau of Kinder Scout in the Peak District, defying the law that denied access to parts of the open countryside. The event was pivotal in the fight for responsible access to open spaces, providing the framework for the creation of National Parks and addressing public rights of way to access to open land. But, more than nine decades later, similar issues persist.
Today, England has access to just 8 percent of approproate land and only 4 percent of river access. Walkers are also being shut out of 2,500 landscapes and beauty spots where there is a right to roam but no legal right to access them, and are therefore often forced to trespass. The UK ranks the lowest of 14 European nations on nature connectedness. It also ranks 11th out of 15 European nations on levels of physical activity.
To highlight the issues still affecting our right to roam in Britain, around 40 leading national governing bodies and environmental organisations have joined an Outdoors For All manifesto, seeking to extend responsible access to more green and blue landscapes. The National Trust, Rambler’s Association, Open Spaces for All, Right to Roam, Friends of the Earth, and Disabled Ramblers, are just several of the organisations supporting Outdoors for All. The coalition is calling for new legislation to open up more of England’s countryside for public enjoyment.
The Outdoors for All manifesto was launched at a cross-party event in Westminster. The event was attended by the Shadow Minister for Nature and the Secretary of State for the Environment, who promised that greater access to open spaces, urban and rural, is high up on the national political agenda in this election year.
This weekend’s 92nd event commemorating the Kinder Scout Mass Trespass of 1932 is held in the village of Hayfield, at the foot of Kinder Scout. It is organised by the Hayfield Kinder Trespass Group. The group’s David Toft said that while the 1932 Trespass was crucial in the long struggle for greater responsible access to appropriate open spaces, urban and rural, the “struggle is far from over, as even now we have access to only 8 percent of appropriate land, and only 4 percent of river access.”
Activities are taking place in Hayfield throughout the weekend, including live music, walks, pizza with the social enterprise the Tent People, and a Trespass Swim in Kinder Reservoir.
Speakers include Kate Ashbrook from the Open Spaces Society, Britain’s oldest national conservation body, which campaigns to protect common land, village greens, open spaces and public paths, and people’s right to enjoy them. Kate Ashbrook who told LFF how the society “wants the next government to put public access at the heart of its policies and decision-making, and to consult early on how to provide more and better access for all.”
Speaking in Hayfield, Kate Ashbrook said: “The new government must plan to provide better access for people, for their recreation and enjoyment, and for their health and well-being.
“This election year gives politicians the chance to tell us what they will do to improve public access. There are great inequalities in people’s opportunity to get out and enjoy our countryside. It is vital to have green spaces and paths on people’s doorsteps.”
The Hayfield Kinder Pledge was formally launched this weekend, stating a “commitment to a universal right of free and responsible access to all landscapes, rural and urban for all.” The pledge is based on Benny Rothman’s 1989 Rivington Pledge. Rothman organised the Mass Trespass in 1932. In 1982, the political activist formed the Kinder Scout Advisory Committee and in 1989 the Rivington Pledge Committee and was secretary of both. He also led the campaign against the privatisation of water authority land.
The Hayfield Kinder Pledge is updated to reflect current issues and campaigns. It states:
“We pledge to peacefully campaign to enshrine in law the right of universal open access to land and water, urban and rural, across all of the UK. This law should be similar to those currently in place in Scotland. We will also support the actions of those who undertake forms of non-violent direct action to campaign for these rights.’
Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead is a contributing editor to Left Foot Forward
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