Labour has U-turned on its pledge to create a Scottish-style right to roam in the English countryside if elected, the Guardian can reveal.
Instead of an assumed right of access, the party now says it will find other ways to create more access to land in England, after opposition from some landowners’ groups.
Campaigners reacted with dismay at the news. There has been a recent groundswell of public campaigns involving mass trespasses, which have sometimes attracted thousands of people, asking for a general right to walk across the English countryside. There is currently a right to roam over just 8% of England.
Wales, like England, is under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (Crow) meaning there is a right to walk on open country (mountain, moor, heath and downland) and “registered common land”. There are no general rights to wander over the countryside in Northern Ireland.
The previous shadow environment team, led by Jim McMahon, the MP for Oldham West and Royton, had committed to a Scottish-style right to roam, where there would be an assumed right for English people to walk around the countryside.
The former shadow nature minister Alex Sobel, the MP for Leeds North West, told parliament earlier this year: “Labour’s approach, like in Scotland, will be that Labour’s right to roam will offer access to high-quality green and blue space in the rest of Britain. We will replace the default of exclusion with a default of access.
“Research shows that people with a stronger connection to nature were more likely to behave positively towards the environment. It’s quite simple: the more people engage with nature, the more likely they are to protect it.”
This idea was criticised by rural campaign groups including the National Farmers’ Union. Tim Bonner, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance, hinted that rural voters would not vote Labour if they implemented a right to roam policy, referring to it as an “attack on the countryside”.
Labour sources told the Guardian this approach had now changed, and that instead they were working with rural groups to find ways to increase access without giving a widespread right to roam, where access is assumed across the whole country. The shadow ministerial team is considering reforming Crow instead. The 2000 act gives a legal right of public access to mountains, moorland, heaths and some downland and commons, alongside the more recently created England coast path.
Toby Perkins, who since September has been the shadow nature and rural affairs minister, said: “We absolutely want to see access extended. Do we need to tread very carefully on this? Absolutely. We want to increase access to nature but we also need to look at it in terms of farmers and working collectively with them rather than a top-down approach.”
The shadow environment secretary, Steve Reed, said that he would be “astonished” if increased access to nature would not be in the next Labour manifesto but added there was a need to “respect the needs of farmers, producers and growers not to have their crops damaged”. He added that Labour would be producing a white paper on access to nature.
Campaigners have criticised the change in direction. Guy Shrubsole from the Right to Roam campaign said: “Piecemeal extension of the Crow Act won’t lead to equitable access for the people who need it most. It’s also an expensive and time-consuming approach. It took five years and millions of pounds to map access land when Crow was brought in, and resulted in a right to roam over just 8% of England, much of it very remote from where most people live – and it managed to create lots of access ‘islands’ that you can only reach by trespassing.
“Scotland’s default right to access land and water responsibly, with sensible exceptions and backed by a well-promoted outdoor access code, offers a much better, cheaper and more workable model that England should be following. It’s also a vote-winner: polling shows 62% of the public support a Scottish-style right to roam for England.
“We look forward to continuing to work with Labour as they develop their plans, and we’ll be stepping up our campaigning over the next year to show why England should follow Scotland’s lead on access.”
A Labour party spokesperson said: “Let me be clear that under Keir Starmer’s leadership, Labour has never committed to a Scottish-style right to roam. We want people from every background to have responsible access to nature around them, with access to parks and wildlife and the opportunity to enjoy our great British countryside.”