At the turn of the 18th and 19th Centuries the House of Lords passed the Enclosure Acts which effectively removed the right of people to walk to the summits, moors, hills and rivers in England and Wales.
Ever since these Acts which were specific to each landowner and passed by his friends in the House of Lords people have been campaigning for the rights to be re-instated. The first serious attempt was the publication of a Bill by Meirionnydd MP Tom Ellis in 1884. This was bound to fail but a marker was set.
The Ramblers’ Association was formed in 1935 largely as a result of activists in the North West of England who were kept off the Moors in the area by landowners and more particularly their gamekeepers. The public right of way network was also being eroded.
The aims of the Ramblers’ Association includes “to promote access to Open Country”. In 1949 the government passed the National Parks Act which gave the Park Authorities and Local government the power to negotiate with landowners access. Besides the Peak District National Park very little was actually created in the following 40 years. Other National Parks – including Snowdonia – agreed some, paid money to the landowners but largely failed to tell anyone. The RA decided it was time for a concerted campaign and this was launched under the title “Right to Roam”. This was successful and led to a manifesto commitment of the Labour Party in 1997.
The result was the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. The first thing that had to be decided was where was the land that was to be accessible. This job to decide what was Mountain, Moor, Heath or Down fell to the Countryside Council for Wales. It took a little over 3 years and was very successful. During this period CCW also educated the occupiers of the land about the new right of access and worked on a new Countryside Code.
On May 28th Open Access became law in Wales. To mark the date the Ramblers’ Association together with Denbighshire Countryside Services organised an event at Loggerheads Country Park. After the speeches RA members accompanied Alun Pugh and representatives of various organisations on a walk to the summit of Moel Gyw. Denbighshire Countryside Services had piloted this area of open access with the agreement of the farmer since November 2004. The farmer, Huw Smith, joined us for the walk.
North Wales Area of the RA is grateful to the support of our AMs and particularly Alun Pugh who is a keen walker and has completed 157 Munroes. The walk was led by Lucy Bick of Denbighshire Countryside Services who was the first Access Officer appointed by a local authority in Wales. The support of these Denbighshire Officers has meant that the county is well ahead of the rest of Wales in being prepared for Open Access.
Ron Williams