Tim Bonner: Labour turns its back on ‘Right to Roam’ campaigners

There are few issues that generate more illogicality than a ‘Right to Roam’. There are 140,000 miles of footpaths and other rights of way in England and Wales and an additional three million acres of open access land, most of which is unused, yet campaigners claim there is a need for all land to be subject to a Right to Roam. In reality, there is plenty of research that suggests that the access to the countryside which most of the public actually wants is clearly marked paths served by car parks and that the last thing people want is to be climbing barbed wire fences or vaulting ditches across farmer’s fields. The gulf between the claims of activists and the requirements of the public can largely be explained by politics. The Right to Roam campaign is far more about the rejection of property rights and the Marxist view that private property is a form of theft where owners are stealing from the people than it is about those people actually being able to access the countryside.

It is probably true that a greater proportion of that population wants to have easy access to the countryside and this is something that should be welcome both by rural communities which gain financially and for visitors who benefit physically and mentally. On the other hand, large numbers of people visiting fragile ecosystems can have a devastating impact and, unfortunately, a significant minority of visitors behave in a reckless manner.

Unsurprisingly the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn sided with those who want an ideological battle and a Right to Roam was proposed in a report called Land for the Many, written by - amongst others - George Monbiot and long-term activist Guy Shrubsole. They continued to push that proposal even after Labour’s election disaster of 2019 and earlier this year Shadow Minister, Alex Sobel, said that Labour would introduce a Scottish-style Right to Roam and “replace the default of exclusion with a default of access”.

That announcement was far from well-received by the rural community because it seemed to be at odds both with what the public want and what is sensible for a country which has, by general agreement, a biodiversity crisis as well as one of the densest populations in Europe. In fact, the comparison between Scotland with a population density of 70 people per km2 and England which has 426 people per km2 is itself ridiculous.

The Alliance has been very clear that a Right to Roam would not only have potential impacts on bio-diversity, but that it might also cost Labour at the ballot box. It is exactly the sort of divisive issue that The Fabians and the Alliance have highlighted in reports on rural voters’ “cultural aversion” to Labour.

Thankfully, this week, Labour has reversed its decision and said that it will promote access to the countryside, but not legislate for a Right to Roam. This is the sort of sensible approach that the Alliance has advocated and we look forward to working with Shadow Ministers on proposals for managed access which will benefit both those who want to use the countryside and those who live and work in it.

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