It was drizzling when we left the two minibuses behind, parked on the minor road that crosses from Yorkshire to Lancashire a little north of Hebden Bridge. It was raining rather harder by the time we reached the outcrop of gritstone known as the Mere Stones. That’s the weather you might expect in the Pennines in autumn, and the rain didn’t really dampen our spirits.
A day to remember
It was the last Saturday in November, and we were walking the beautiful South Pennine moors for a particular reason. It was, almost to the day, the 25th anniversary of Royal Assent being given to the landmark ‘right to roam’ Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CRoW) and we were marking the occasion by using our access rights on land which, before then, had been hidden behind brusque ‘keep out’ signs. What had once been reserved for the grouse and the ‘guns’ was now countryside that we could all enjoy.
The Mere Stones walk, which brought together around 30 of us from across the country (including one disabled rambler in her all-terrain wheelchair), was the starter of a day designed to mark the anniversary of the CRoW Act but also to discuss how the limited access rights which the act brought in can be enhanced. Still only about 8% of the English countryside is open as of right to ordinary people. Twenty million of us live more than 15 minutes away from any access to nature. There’s unfinished business here!
Steering a second wave for land rights
The main event on 29 November was the national conference held (safely under cover in Hebden Bridge’s community-run Town Hall) under the strapline Freedom to Roam: the Next Step. By this stage, the number of participants had more than doubled to include ramblers, naturalists, kayakers and climbers, all looking for greater access to England’s lands and landscapes. The plenaries and workshops had a particular aim: to build a strong momentum to persuade the government to meet its manifesto commitments on access rights.
Participants heard contributions from veteran campaigner Kate Ashbrook, general secretary of the Open Spaces Society, from author and activist Amy-Jane Beer of the Right to Roam group, and from Jack Cornish from the Ramblers. Kate had dug into her archives to find photographs of John Prescott and then-environment minister Michael Meacher being taken on to the Pennine moors near Hebden Bridge, the photos dating back to the time when activists were undertaking pre-CRoW lobbying and trespassing. She revealed that it was the Hull East MP, Prescott – not necessarily the first MP to be thought of as a keen walker – who had managed to persuade a reluctant Tony Blair to give parliamentary time for the CRoW legislation.
Amy-Jane Beer arrived hot-foot from a morning’s trespass with Right to Roam supporters on the (still private) banks of the Aire near Shipley to argue passionately for England to have access rights similar to those in Scotland. Instead of the English countryside being out-of-bounds except for those specific areas where access is permitted, the default position should be reversed: a right to roam throughout, but of course subject to sensible restrictions, and to users taking responsibility for their actions.
Maintaining focus on the future
Two backbench Labour MPs, Andy MacNae and Phil Brickell, who have been instrumental in establishing the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on outdoor recreation and access to nature, also participated in the event. The APPG has recently produced an excellent report Outdoors For All: Recommendations for Government on Access to Nature, offering the government a clear road map for new access legislation. Nevertheless, at present the green paper from the government, which was expected to have been published by now, has yet to appear. Without John Prescott there today to pressurise his cabinet colleagues, there may have to be a lot more campaigning, trespassing and lobbying before the current government realises that it needs to act.
The Freedom to Roam: the Next Step event was held in Hebden Bridge as the town had been the centre for a lively access campaign in the years before the CRoW Act became law. The event concluded in the final plenary with the unanimous adoption of the Hebden Bridge Declaration, with its call for “ambitious new legislation” from the government for access to the land and inland waters of England. The aim should be “an England where all her people can enjoy the benefits of outdoor recreation and of access to nature”, it says.
The Hebden Bridge Declaration
Our vision: An England where all her people can enjoy the benefits of outdoor recreation and of access to nature
On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act:
· we celebrate the access rights it introduced
· we note that despite the Act there remain significant limitations in the opportunities for access to the countryside in England
· we call on the government to introduce ambitious new legislation for access to the land and inland waters of England for outdoor recreation and appreciation of nature
Adopted unanimously at the Freedom to Roam: the Next Step national conference held in Hebden Bridge Town Hall, 29 November 2025.
