Access Land

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 has created rights to walk on "access land" - defined as mountain, moor, heath or down, and registered common land.

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 introduced a new right for people to walk, responsibly and subject to some common sense restrictions, over areas of open countryside and registered common in England and Wales.

The areas of countryside where the public may go were mapped by the Countryside Agency (now Natural England) and are shown on new editions of Ordnance Survey 'Explorer' maps.

Whereas existing access rights and traditions are not affected, it is important to note that the act does not give people the 'right to roam' wherever they want. These rights allow people to walk only on mapped access land throughout England and Wales.

This right was introduced in Gloucestershire on 31st October 2005.

DEFRA (The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) is the main government department responsible for implementing the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Follow the link (to the top right of this article) for more details on the legislation behind the new right of access to the countryside. County Councils like Gloucestershire have been involved in making sure that access may be available safely to some of this land and in liaison with landowners and farmers.

The brown walking figure symbol is used to show where Access Land exists.

Where can I find out information about the new areas of access land?

The Countryside Agency published the Conclusive maps of Access Land for our area on 1st July 2005 - you can see them on Natural England's website at www.openaccess.gov.uk [Opens in New Window], and also at the Agency's offices in Crescent Place, Cheltenham. Reduced scale maps are also held for public viewing by appointment at Shire Hall in Gloucester - telephone 01452 425577 if you want to arrange to see these maps.

New rules also apply in Scotland - see the Scottish Natural Heritage website for more details at Scottish Natural Heritage [Opens in New Window].

Ordnance Survey (OS) Explorer maps have been published showing the new access land as a pale orange-yellow wash. Maps are now available for the whole county from good bookshops such as Waterstones (Gloucester or Cheltenham), Stroud Bookshop (Stroud), branches of WH Smith and Tourist Information Centres throughout the county, as well as certain outdoor activity supplies shops such as Blacks and Cotswold Outdoor.

	Access land made available to the public While the Countryside Agency (now Natural England) mapped some 3500 hectares of Access Land in Gloucestershire, much of it is not available to the public. However the county council worked with landowners to make some of this land accessible.		Permissive Access to land Access to farms and country estates on the Natural England web site
	Mapping of Access Land The Countryside Agency is responsible for the mapping process which resulted in the production of Conclusive Maps showing areas of registered common land and open country. These are the areas of land where the public have a new right of access on foot. The maps were available from 1st July last year.		More information about Access Land The county council offers to provide suitable structures such as kissing and pedestrian gates to landowners, in order to allow the public to gain access to the new land from public rights of way and roads, and without unduly affecting farming activities.