[Diggers350] Labour are weak on pubic access to land

Right to Roam hello at righttoroam.org.uk
Wed Jun 12 01:03:04 BST 2024 

Dear Roamers,

The Labour Party have trailed their manifesto 
commitments on access, due to be officially 
published next week. While we're glad the big 
parties are talking about access... Honestly? 
We’re not impressed. Labour say they want to 
create “nine new National River Walks”, 
r
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Labour's Damp Squib
& the Cost of CRoW

Dear Roamers,

The Labour Party have trailed their 
<https://www.righttoroam.org.uk/so/c3O-oIXkx/c?w=MxiVPAl3LVW8bqPUDQeskrAEUTk1thDp-d5IcyXHZtI.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGhlZ3VhcmRpYW4uY29tL2Vudmlyb25tZW50L2FydGljbGUvMjAyNC9qdW4vMDYvY29tbXVuaXRpZXMtd2lsbC1iZS1naXZlbi1yaWdodC10by10dXJuLWV5ZXNvcmVzLWludG8tcGFya3Mtc2F5cy1sYWJvdXIiLCJyIjoiNmJhNjcwOTQtMWRkZi00NDcwLWFkY2YtOTg0NTc0NmZmMWQyIiwibSI6Im1haWwiLCJjIjoiOGM1MGM4MDAtODQ5NS00OWI4LTg2MmYtZGU0NzM4ZmRhM2ExIn0>manifesto 
commitments on access, due to be officially published next week.

While we're glad the big parties are talking about access...

Honestly? We’re not impressed.

Labour say they want to create “nine new 
National River Walks”, representing “hundreds 
of miles” of new riverside paths.

They say the new paths will predominantly be 
created via negotiation with landowners.

For context, there are around 150,000 miles of 
waterways in England. So even, say, 750 miles of 
paths would amount to 0.5% of new access. 
That’s the sort of ambition you might expect 
from a borough council, not a national government.

Meanwhile, without a foundation of wider 
statutory rights of access, there’s little to 
stop landowners refusing to play ball.

It would likely take a long time to implement: 
using the River Dart (Devon) as an example, 
agreements would be required on 748 separate parcels of land.

And the proposals would also do nothing to 
guarantee rights to the water itself: so you 
could still find yourself being shouted at just for going for a swim.

The result might be something like the Test Way 
(Berkshire / Hampshire): a route named after a 
river it barely touches, due to the hostility of 
riparian landowners to public access.

Now, just because it’s not in the manifesto 
doesn’t mean there is no intention to implement 
bolder plans in government. We know Labour are 
running a hyper-cautious campaign, and will be 
minimising the target on as many issues as they can.

Still, so far it’s a poor offer that’s 
incommensurate with the challenges we’re 
facing, and the losses we’re seeing. Labour say 
they want the landscape to be a source of 
"national pride", yet - so far - they're offering 
little to help us experience it.

The numbers are in: Scotland's "Right to Roam" was far cheaper than CRoW

We know there's a better way: creating the 
default right of responsible access we’ve been 
campaigning for, with support for access 
infrastructure - like river paths - where it’s required.

Guy has been busy crunching the numbers. And It 
turns out that England’s Countryside and Rights 
of Way Act (which extended the right to roam to 
just 8% of the countryside) cost over *six times* 
what it cost Scotland to introduce their 
comprehensive right of responsible access – which 
created far greater rights for a far wider range of activities.

Total costs for implementing Part 1 of the Land 
Reform (Scotland) Act amounted to just shy of 
£11 million, whereas the comparatively partial 
CRoW Act totalled £69.5 million. And most of 
what they did spend in Scotland went to funding 
Local Access Officers, rather than complicated mapping exercises.

You can read our story about it in the Guardian 
<https://www.righttoroam.org.uk/so/c3O-oIXkx/c?w=0DuXZUBnvnVxtHxPZeQmabEIEgF1qxXxos1r1o1pk04.eyJ1IjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGhlZ3VhcmRpYW4uY29tL3VrLW5ld3MvYXJ0aWNsZS8yMDI0L2p1bi8wNi9lbmdsYW5kcy1yZXN0cmljdGl2ZS1ydXJhbC1hY2Nlc3MtcnVsZXMtY29zdC1zaXgtdGltZXMtdGhhdC1vZi1zY290bGFuZHMtZmlndXJlcy1zaG93IiwiciI6IjZiYTY3MDk0LTFkZGYtNDQ3MC1hZGNmLTk4NDU3NDZmZjFkMiIsIm0iOiJtYWlsIiwiYyI6IjhjNTBjODAwLTg0OTUtNDliOC04NjJmLWRlNDczOGZkYTNhMSJ9>here.


Whoever is elected in July [it will be a Labour 
landslide - ed.], we’ll be continuing to make the case for that approach.

It’s cheap, it’s popular, and it’s straightforward to implement.

We’ll keep you informed about all the other 
party commitments on access as they emerge.

And if you’d like to get in touch with your 
local parliamentary candidates to express your 
views on their respective offers, please do!


Jon
and the rest of the Right to Roam team


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