New Rights of Access Following the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act 2000, the public now have a new right of access on foot over specified areas of open country and registered common land. The Countryside Agency www.countryside.gov.uk has preparing maps of all open country and registered common land in England as a statutory duty under the Crow Act. The mapping of the land took place in a three stage, draft, provisional and conclusive map process. The draft and provisional stages had consultation and appeal periods in order to make sure the information was correct. The final conclusive maps were then released in stages across the entire country. Since November 2005 the right of access across has been introduced on over 800,000 hectares of open country and registered common land in England. What you are allowed to do on access land
- Any restrictions do not affect existing public rights of way. The public rights in footpaths, bridleways and byways remain the same on the line of the path.
- The new right includes most open air activities carried out on foot.
- The new right does not include horse riding or cycling, driving a vehicle, or certain other activities such as camping (These restrictions do not include any existing rights that are available)
- There are rules about dog control
- Access may be restricted due to land or livestock management
- There are places the public are not allowed to go, including golf courses, buildings, gardens, quarries and arable land.
Where do the new rights apply? To find out where the open country and registered common land areas are on the Isle of Wight, please contact the Rights of Way Section using the details on the Contact Us page. Further information can be found at - New editions of the Ordnance Survey maps will include the new access land
- Up to date information can be found at www.countrysideaccess.gov.uk and www.countryside.gov.uk
- A new leaflet 'Countryside Access' has been released by the Countryside Agency
- A new symbol and information points will be used to show access land and restrictions
- A new country code has been released to advise on sensible safe use of the countryside.
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