Campaigners say system often entails trespassing on private land to reach free-to-roam areas and call for Scotland-style rules

Hundreds of people campaigning for the right to roam in England are to descend on Dartmoor in an effort to highlight the limitations of the country’s system.

More than 90 years since the mass trespass of Kinder Scout, which helped establish the principle of the right to roam in the UK, organisers say England’s partial right to roam is “ridiculous” and are calling for a system of access rights that echoes Scotland’s.

Supporters will gather at Vixen Tor in Devon on 24 February, in what organisers say will be the largest mass trespass in a generation.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    3·
    8 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Hundreds of people campaigning for the right to roam in England are to descend on Dartmoor in an effort to highlight the limitations of the country’s system.

    They aim to highlight the current situation, where large swathes of the countryside that can be freely roamed upon can only be accessed by trespassing across private land.

    It’s ridiculous that the public have to trespass to reach these fragments of land where they have a legal right to roam – all because of our piecemeal approach to access in this country.”

    Performers and musicians will bring a large boat to symbolically “sail” to the island, and participants have been asked to think of other creative ways to travel over inaccessible land.

    Last year the UK Labour party pledged to introduce a Scottish-style right to roam law in England if it won the next general election, but made a U-turn in October.

    “With political parties pledging to increase access to nature in England, it’s vital they learn from the mistakes of the past, and look instead to follow successful examples like Scotland.”

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