Rural Affairs

Chapter 11: Increasing enjoyment of the countryside

The issues

  • How to make it easier for in particular urban dwellers to visit the countryside, and to help everybody benefit from the potential for enjoyment which it offers.
  • How to reconcile increasing opportunities for people to visit the countryside with the interests of those living and working in the countryside.

The future: what we want to see

  • The public will have, for the first time in recent history, access for recreation on foot to open country - mountain, moor, heath, down and registered common land, with appropriate safeguards for landowners.
  • An improved network of rights of way, with improved legal remedies to secure the removal of obstacles.
  • Opportunities to visit and enjoy the countryside increased for disadvantaged groups and for town dwellers, for example through better management of the countryside around towns - where the pressures are strongest and the need for green spaces greatest.
  • Traditional countryside sports will continue to play their important role in the countryside.

Summary of measures

  • A new right of access for walkers by 2005 to mountain, moor, heath, down and registered common land;

  • New powers (in the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill) for landowners to dedicate their land as permanently open to walkers and other users;

  • The rights of way system brought up to date through the new legislative measures in the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill and new finance from central Government;

  • Codes of practice, a national access database and other readily available sources to inform people of the opportunities available to them in the countryside;

  • A review on how to provide more opportunities for all groups of people to enjoy countryside recreation;

  • New guidance on revitalising country parks and special funding to improve the country around towns

Contents

11.1. Introduction

11.2. Walking in the countryside

11.3. Recreation for all

11.1. Introduction

11.1.1. The countryside is an enormous recreational asset, with its high quality landscapes, fresh air, open space and tranquillity. Recreation can improve the mental and physical health of participants and the revenue from millions of visitors to the countryside every year is an important component of the economy of rural England. Part of what makes our countryside alive and vibrant is the enormous number of activities created chiefly by and for the residents - agricultural shows, point-to-points, pony shows, game fairs, village fetes, carnivals, etc.

Revenue from visitors
Total spending by all visitors to the countryside is estimated to be around £11.5bn in 1998, of which 77% is associated with day visitors from home, 17% with UK holiday makers and 6% with overseas tourists. Total employment directly supported by recreation and leisure visitor activity in the countryside is estimated to amount to some 290,000 jobs in 1998 and a further 50,000 indirectly in other sectors of the rural economy.

11.1.2. Our strategy to increase enjoyment of the countryside involves:

  • Legislation to make it easier for people to enjoy recreation in open countryside and to use footpaths, bridle ways and other rights of way;
  • Making sure that all sections of society can enjoy the countryside by:
    • making it easier for disadvantaged communities to enjoy the countryside;
    • finding out more about what minority groups would like to do in the countryside;
    • ensuring that there is proper provision for a full range of recreational interests.
  • Seeking to ensure that recreation is managed in a way that benefits local communities and protects the environment that people come to visit.

11.2. Walking in the countryside

Walking in open countryside

11.2.1. Walking is by far the most popular activity in the countryside. The UK Day Visits Survey showed that 35% of countryside visits and 27% of seaside visits had walking as the main activity. For over a century people have sought the right to explore open countryside. Our manifesto promised that we would give greater freedom to them to do so. In the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill we are introducing new statutory rights of access on foot to 1.1 million hectares of open countryside in England and Wales.

We aim to ensure that by 2005 people in England and Wales will have a right of access for recreation on foot to mountain, moor, heath, down and registered common land. The right will be limited in scope and take account of the interests of land managers and others in the land. The Countryside Agency and the Countryside Council for Wales will be mapping the land concerned. There are provisions for all interested parties to comment on the maps and for landowners to appeal against the boundaries.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

11.2.2. There is also considerable public interest in better access to woodlands, canal sides, riversides and coastal land. Much of such land is owned by public authorities such as the Forestry Commission and British Waterways; or by non-profit-making bodies such as the National Trust and the Woodland Trust who already open most of their land to the public. We believe, therefore, that a statutory right in respect of woodlands, canal sides and riversides is unnecessary. But the public bodies concerned are looking at ways to improve the access that they provide to walkers and horse-riders, and we have aimed through the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill to make it easier for all landowners, whether public bodies, charitable or non-profit-making organisations or private landowners to dedicate their land as permanently open.

  • The Bill introduces new powers for landowners to dedicate their land as permanently open to walkers, and to other users such as horse-riders if they wish. This means that the land will remain open even when it passes to another owner. We shall be encouraging landowners to make full use of this new power;

  • The Forestry Commission will continue to encourage landowners to provide access to their woodlands through incentives under the Woodland Grant Scheme. The Forestry Commission will also consider the scope for dedicating its own woodlands, so that they will remain open to the public even if they are sold on. The Commission will seek to increase the area of woodlands under its control open for public access by purchasing the freeholds of leasehold properties where opportunities arise;

  • British Waterways, which manages most of the navigable canal network, has instituted a programme - Access to All - to promote access to the canal network;

  • The Ministry of Defence has committed itself in the Strategy for the Defence Estate to providing public access wherever possible. It will seek to increase the amount, quality and certainty of access overall, and ensure that maximum advance notice is given of access opportunities. The existing presumption of access to its estate will continue wherever consistent with operational, safety and security considerations, and the interests of conservation;

  • The Countryside and Rights of Way Bill provides for the statutory opening of coastal land if appropriate in the future. We shall review this in the light of experience with other types of land open for statutory access, and consult fully on any proposals.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

Rights of way

11.2.3. The new rights of access to open countryside will open up new possibilities for many millions of walkers. Nonetheless, our historic rights of way network are likely to remain the most important means of access into the countryside for walkers, as well as for the several million horse-riders and cyclists in England. Although much of the rights of way network reflects the day-to-day working needs of a bygone age, it now offers many opportunities for countryside recreation. There are 147,000 kilometres of footpath, 32,000 kilometres of bridleway, 6,000 kilometres of roads used as public paths/restricted byways and 4,000 kilometres of byways open to all traffic in England.

11.2.4. However, the current legal regime makes it difficult to remove obstructions, to divert routes or to be certain where some routes exist. The Countryside and Rights of Way Bill aims to provide an improved network and a fairer system for both landowners and users.

  • Through the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill, we will:

    • Provide a new right to require removal of obstructions;

    • Require local highway authorities to produce rights of way improvement plans;

    • Give a right to landowners to appeal to the Secretary of State if local highway authorities do not deal with requests for diversions promptly; and make it possible for farmers to make temporary diversions of rights of way where this is really necessary for a land management operation such as tree-felling;

    • Introduce a new class of restricted byway to give certainty to users, including carriage drivers, as to their rights;

    • Set a deadline of 25 years for registering forgotten historic footpaths and bridleways on the local definitive maps of the rights of way network. This will bring benefits for both landowners and those using the rights of way. Landowners will have certainty as to whether a footpath or bridleway exists on their property; and the existence of a deadline will encourage work to be done more quickly on the identification of forgotten footpaths and, especially, bridleways to the benefit of walkers and horse-riders. We have chosen a deadline that gives enough time to research forgotten rights. We shall provide grants to voluntary associations of an average of £2m per year to help them undertake research to complete definitive maps;

    • We will also provide resources of up to £19m to local highway authorities to enable them to carry out their new duties;

    • We shall monitor the performance of local highway authorities and review the performance plans of those that are making poor progress. Some authorities have an excellent record in fulfilling their duties to define, maintain and signpost rights of way; others do not. The Countryside Agency is undertaking a further survey to record the state of the rights of way network in 2000. We shall use the results of the Countryside Agency survey as a base from which to judge improvements to the system and use the best value procedures now being introduced to ensure that local authorities undertake their rights of way work efficiently and effectively. By 2005 we aim to achieve a 10% improvement in defining, maintaining and publicising the rights of way network.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

11.3. Recreation for all

Countryside around towns

11.3.1. The countryside around towns has a particular importance as source of recreation for city dwellers. It also creates the environmental setting for a city which will encourage inward investment - as increasingly firms want to locate in places where they know their employees will have easy access to attractive and good quality green areas. Our aim is to improve its amenity value.

  • We will continue to protect green belts as a means of helping to keep our towns and cities compact and distinct, and for the environmental resource that they provide;

  • The Countryside Agency will administer a new fund to provide up to £4.5m over the next three years for schemes to improve the countryside around towns;

  • The New Opportunities Lottery Fund recently announced a multi-million pound programme of lottery grant aid to transform and upgrade green spaces in local communities across the UK. The countryside around towns is extremely well placed to benefit from this programme, which includes nearly £13m for the Countryside Agency to help disadvantaged urban and rural communities create or revive public green spaces. The Agency will be awarding grants of up to £150,000 during this initiative, and we urge local authorities and other key players to help local communities benefit from these grants;

  • The Countryside Agency will be issuing guidance on best practice to revitalise the country parks around our towns and cities. Over 250 country parks were established around towns, most in the 1970s. Many are now beginning to show their age. Yet they remain potentially a great asset for urban dwellers, providing ‘gateways' between town and country. We want to see country parks better maintained and brought up to date to accommodate the activities and sports that people are now interested in, and they will be eligible for help from both lottery funding and the Countryside Agency grant scheme for countryside around towns;

  • We will consult on a revision of our planning policy guidance on sport and recreation (PPG17) to give local planning authorities a clearer framework to make provision for open spaces in and around our towns;

  • Farming remains an important activity even in the countryside immediately around towns maintaining attractive landscapes. At the same time, farmers near towns are especially well placed to diversify into the provision of recreational facilities for their urban neighbours. Where appropriate MAFF's Countryside Stewardship scheme can be used to enhance the countryside around towns and to improve opportunities for people to enjoy it;

  • Community forests. The Countryside Agency and the Forestry Commission, working together with local authorities and others, have helped create 12 community forests on the edges of our larger towns and cities. These woodland areas provide peace and recreation, improving the quality of life of half of England's population. The Government would like to see the approach adopted more widely and will consider how it can be used to assist with the implementation of other regeneration, forestry and community-based initiatives.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

11.3.2. Many of the other policies described in this paper will help the countryside around towns. The target of 60% of new housing on brownfield sites will help reduce the especially acute pressures for development in the countryside around towns, although there will be a need to develop on some green fields on the urban fringe. Our measures to promote the better planning of development will help ensure that development in these areas reflects the character of the local landscape and helps strengthen the sense of community.

11.3.3. The countryside around towns will also be eligible to benefit from the £70.4 million lottery funding for SUSTRANS for Green Routes Safe Routes, including green transport corridors to, from and in disadvantaged areas.

Helping all sections of the community to enjoy the countryside

11.3.4. We want the countryside to be a source of enjoyment for all sections of society. We are concerned that most country pursuits such as walking are now largely the preserve of the white, middle-aged, middle-class and able-bodied. Over the next few years we shall be looking for ways to spread the benefits of countryside recreation more equally, while ensuring that this is done in a way which both protects the countryside itself and brings benefits to local communities.

11.3.5. The proposed new statutory right of access to open countryside will open up huge new areas of land close to where people live, particularly for those in the conurbations of Northern England. If new national parks are designated in the New Forest and South Downs, millions more people in the conurbations of Southern England will then live close to a national park managed by an authority concerned to promote opportunities for people to enjoy the special qualities of the Parks.

11.3.6. We also want to make it easier for people to benefit from the increased opportunities which will exist for enjoying the countryside. We shall expect local authorities to give priority to links between town and country in their rights of way improvement plans and local transport plans. And we shall expect local transport plans to consider town to country journeys for leisure purposes as well as those from the country to town for work, shopping and education. We will also encourage local authorities to develop and promote public transport links for people wishing to go to the countryside.

11.3.7. Surveys have shown that many people are inhibited from enjoying countryside recreation fully because of uncertainty about what is available and what they may legitimately do. We shall be improving the information available to them.

  • The Countryside Agency will publish Codes of Practice for walkers and for landowners to accompany the new statutory right of access to open countryside;

  • We plan to establish a National Access Database. This will be on the internet and will give full up-to-date information about both rights of way and areas open to the public.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

11.3.8. We have asked the Countryside Agency to investigate what more may be done to provide opportunities for disabled people, ethnic minorities, residents of inner city estates, and young people to enjoy countryside recreation. They will be establishing pilot projects in a number of areas. We will also expect local authorities' rights of way improvement plans to include proposals for making improvements for people who do not normally visit the countryside, for instance increasing accessibility for those with sight or mobility problems. We are encouraging local authorities to consider all social groups and the full range of countryside recreation in drawing up their local cultural strategies. But we accept that we need to do more at government level to develop a longer term strategy.

By 2005, we will carry out a full diversity review of how we can encourage more people with disabilities, more people from the ethnic minorities, more people from the inner cities, and more young people to visit the countryside and participate in country activities. Initially we will do this by seeking their views on what they need to enjoy the countryside. Then we will draw up a plan of action.

Tourism and Transport
In some honeypot areas, tourist numbers can be damaging to the local environment if not properly managed and some rural communities may feel swamped by visitors in the peak seasons. We believe that the main solution to these problems is to develop effective visitor management schemes and a marketing approach which spreads visitors to new attractions in the less visited regions and away from honeypot sites. The main challenge is transport. The majority of tourist visitors to rural areas use private cars rather than public transport, adding to pollution, and traffic congestion. Without action this is likely to become worse over the next decade as the popularity of visits to the country grows. We favour a two-pronged approach:

  • Providing realistic alternatives in the form of better public transport infrastructure and better access to cycling. Bodies such as the Youth Hostels Association and the National Park Authorities are already developing interesting schemes. For example, the Moorsbus Network provided by the North York Moors National Park supplements the network of rail and bus services which serves many of the main towns and villages in the area to allow walkers to plan routes without the need to return to a car. Its aim is to provide recreational access to the National Park at the lowest environmental cost;

  • Even with such schemes, a large number of visitors to the countryside are still likely to come by car and we will need to see more use of toll and car parking schemes. They will not be possible or appropriate everywhere. But they are likely to have a useful role in managing visitors to particularly popular sites; and toll and parking charges can also help cover the costs of maintaining those sites. An example of how the powers that the Transport Bill will give local authorities to charge for road use could be used is the planned small scheme centred on Derwent Lane, a popular beauty spot in the Peak District National Park. This would tackle congestion and environmental damage by levying vehicle charges at peak times, using the surplus charge revenue to expand public transport provision and provide better facilities for cyclists and walkers.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

Sports and other activities

11.3.9. Many people go to the countryside to admire the scenery, listen to the sounds of nature and generally feel that they are ‘away from it all'. But others (or the same people at other times) value the countryside because it offers the space to enjoy more active pursuits which cannot be undertaken in built-up areas. We are keen that the countryside should offer opportunities for adventure and sport, so long as these do not interfere unduly with the enjoyment of others or with land management work. We believe that by careful planning and management there is a place for all activities. In many instances this will require local authorities, including National Park Authorities, and others to identify the demand for activities in their areas and to see how it can be accommodated. There is a role for central Government in reviewing overall provision and ensuring that local authorities have adequate powers to deal with any problems.

11.3.10. Many people would like more freedom to swim and undertake other activities on waterways, ponds and lakes. The recent White Paper on Inland Waterways - Waterways for Tomorrow describes how the Government wishes to maximise the opportunities for leisure and recreation, tourism and sport on canals. We have also recently revised the Code of Practice on Conservation, Access and Recreation giving guidance to bodies with statutory responsibilities - such as the Environment Agency, and water and sewerage companies - on the need to have regard to the provision of recreational facilities.

11.3.11. The British Canoe Union has drawn attention to the fact that one million canoeists have access to only 3% of navigable water. The Environment Agency has issued a guide Agreeing Access to Water for Canoeing to encourage the establishment of voluntary agreements on the use of waterways for canoeing. But access for canoeists has to be managed in a way that is compatible with the rights of existing users such as anglers. The extent of the problems over access to water for boating and other water sports is difficult to ascertain, and we feel that we need more information before taking decisions on the best way forward.

We shall therefore commission research into the extent of access to water for sport and recreation, and into the problems which exist, in order to inform our future strategy for optimising the recreational possibilities of water.

See progress towards this commitment in the Rural White Paper Implementation Plan

11.3.12. Horse-riding is an increasing pastime. The British Horse Society has plans for a national bridleway network to provide more safe routes for horseriders. And the support we are providing for research into historic rights of way may well result in the discovery of additional bridleways for use by riders.

11.3.13. The National Cycle Network - a Millennium Commission project undertaken by SUSTRANS - will provide continuous traffic-free routes and traffic-calmed minor roads, running right through urban areas and reaching all parts of the UK. It will be a safe, attractive, high quality network for cyclists and a major new amenity for walkers and people with disabilities. The first 5,000 miles were officially opened in June. By 2005 there will be over 8,000 miles.

Traditional countryside sports and activities

11.3.14. Concern has been voiced about hunting with hounds. The arguments over hunting with hounds have been well rehearsed. To inform the position the Government commissioned the Burns report which covered four key areas in relation to hunting;

  • The contribution that hunting makes to employment and the rural economy as well as to social and cultural aspects of life in rural areas;
  • Animal welfare issues and matters of population management;
  • Whether drag hunting is a viable alternative to hunting with hounds;
  • An assessment of the consequences on any ban on hunting, and how a ban might be implemented.

Following that report the Government is to bring before Parliament, for a free vote, proposals on a range of options for the future of hunting with dogs.

11.3.15. The Government recognises there has been some concern too over shooting and fishing. We guarantee that we will not ban these countryside sports. We recognise the major role that these sports have in the countryside, not just as a source of recreation and employment, but also as a contributor to the conservation of landscape and wildlife.

Game shooting and wildfowling

These have a far-reaching influence on landscapes, habitats and wildlife. The management of 7.3 million hectares (18 million acres) is influenced by 4,500 professional gamekeepers; 23% of upland Britain and 80% of small woods in England is managed for game. Wildfowling clubs own or manage 18% of the 163 UK estuaries, of which 90% are designated conservation sites; a number are managing National Nature Reserves in agreement with English Nature. The management practices adopted by those involved in these pursuits make a significant contribution to biodiversity in rural areas. The environmental value of the heather moorlands of northern England has been maintained through the land management regime pursued to raise game birds, and that management produces an important further benefit by providing a habitat conducive to the survival of other bird species, such as curlews and golden plovers.

Angling and fishing

These remain one of the most popular reasons for visiting the countryside, with over a million anglers a year buying rod licenses from the Environment Agency. The important role that angling and freshwater fishing play in the rural economy and in conservation was confirmed by the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Review commissioned by the Government from independent experts in 1998 and published in March 2000.

 

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Page last modified: 19 May, 2005
Page published: 28 November, 2000

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs