Access to open countryside: Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000
Mapping process and excepted land
 |
The right of access introduced by the CROW Act applies to all land mapped as open country (mountain, moor, heath, down) and registered common land and appearing on the conclusive maps which were issued by the Countryside Agency. These areas will appear on Ordnance Survey's Explorer map series, and online maps published by the Natural England on its website under a yellow wash.
Information about draft, provisional and conclusive maps is contained in the Archive.
Some land that has been mapped as open country or registered common land under the CROW Act is covered by other statutory rights of access. In these cases, although the land has been mapped, the CROW Act will not apply and the other existing statutory rights will remain in force. The link below gives more information about this:
- Mapping existing access land (updated 27 September 2002)
Excepted land
All land which qualifies as open country (mountain, moor, heath, down) and registered common land has been mapped. The CROW Act also introduces a new concept of "excepted land". This refers to types of access land that, because of their location or use, are not subject to the new rights - regardless of whether or not they appear on the new maps. There are 13 categories of excepted land:
- Land on which the soil is being, or has at any time within the previous twelve months been, disturbed by any ploughing or drilling undertaken for the purposes of planting or sowing crops or trees.
- Land covered by buildings or the curtilage of such land.
- Land within 20 metres of a dwelling.
- Land used as a park or garden.
- Land used for the getting of minerals by surface working (including quarrying).
- Land used for the purposes of a railway (including a light railway) or tramway.
- Land used for the purposes of a golf course, racecourse or aerodrome.
- Land which is covered by works used for the purposes of a statutory undertaking or a telecommunications code system, or the curtilage of any such land.
- Land which is being developed for any of the purposes described in points 2-8 above.
- Land within 20 metres of a building, which is used for housing livestock, not being a temporary or moveable structure.
- Land covered by pens in use for the temporary reception or detention of livestock.
- Land habitually used for the training of racehorses.
- Land the use of which is regulated by byelaws under section 14 of the Military Lands Act 1892 or section 2 of the Military Lands Act 1900.
As land use can change over time, land that is currently shown on the maps as open country may become excepted from the right of access in the future. Similarly, land which is excepted from the right of access now may be included if it ceases to be covered by these categories. If the boundaries to excepted land are not obvious, then landowners or access authorities may decide to put signs up to let people know.
For more information about excepted land, see Mapping and excepted land (updated 24 July 2002).
Guidance for people using the right of access:
- Guidelines for recognising excepted land [PDF] (14 KB)
Further information is available on our Help page about downloading or reading Adobe Acrobat documents.
Page last modified:
07 August 2008
Page published: 17 September 2004