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Interesting post has appeared on the CTC site which probably affects most of us in some way or another. Always wondered why ROW rules were different in England than Scotland.
Might be worth a wee e-mail to your MSPs.
A new “Land Reform Bill” is coming up in front of the Scottish Parliament.
Most people on this forum will have heard reference to the Scottish Land Access laws; you are allowed free access for muscle powered travel anywhere on open hill, forest or water (including on such hill tracks as might be there). In order to reach that open country it is sometimes necessary to route through a farm's built up area or through standing crops, or through an area which has been closed for some farming, forestry or shooting operation. Confrontations occur, particularly between passers by and shooters or forestry workers. It is still legal to transit one of these otherwise closed areas on a Public Right of Way (ROW). In Scotland there is no differentiation between footpaths and bridleways; ROW covers any mode of muscle powered travel, though at some spots it might not be physically possible to cycle or ride a horse. In order to use a Scottish ROW legally you first need to know where the ROW is. There are about 16,000km of ROW in Scotland. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland there is a legal obligation on Ordnance Survey to publish ROW routes, but not in Scotland, where details are held in restricted Council archives.
Scots Law needs changing to require Ordnance Survey to publish these routes, but the Scottish Government do not yet plan to do this. The Land Reform Bill 2015 is the necessary parliamentary opportunity for this to happen. The Scottish Government are generally amenable to this sort of modernisation, but they need the Public to ask for it.
Why are ROW details "restricted" in Scotland and what is the relevant legislation ? In England, ROW have a legal description of “Defined”. In Scotland they are legally described as either “Confirmed” or “Claimed”. The difference is that while “Confirmed” have been upheld by a court, no one has ever queried the route of a “Claimed” ROW. The agents of the landowners insinuate that “Claimed” routes are not really ROW; this is not true, “Claimed” means that a route fulfils all the criteria to be a ROW and no one has ever legally disputed it. In England, Wales and N.I. local authorities have a legal duty to maintain and make available for the public (usually at a public library) a “definitive map” of ROW in their area. The “definitive maps” are kept up to date with local changes and passed to Ordnance Survey for publication. Since 1960 OS have had a legal duty to publish this information. In Scotland, ROW information is collated by the Scottish Right of Way Society who are paid by a Government department, Scottish National Heritage, to maintain a “National Catalogue of Rights of Way” (CROW). The planning departments of Scottish local authorities keep a local CROW. OS will not publish Scottish CROW information because they are not compelled to. In order to view a CROW, you can make an appointment to visit the Rights of Way Soc' office in Stirling, or a local planning office (who will probably charge for the privilege). You can see how practical this arrangement is to a traveller suddenly faced with some anonymous stranger in a waxed jacket blocking their way. There is also a Scottish Right of Way Society publication called “Scottish Hill Tracks”. It contains scant print descriptions of some, but by no means all, of the main rural ROW. I know from personal experience that waving a dog eared paperback at a red faced shouty man cuts little ice.
If somebody in England, Wales or N.I. blocks your ROW they are committing an offence of criminal obstruction under the Highways Act. That same Act applies in Scotland, but the Scottish Police have proved extremely reluctant to get involved, because of the lack of publicly available mapping.
Which law is it that left Scotland out of the ROW mapping ? In England, Councils were required to map Public Rights of Way by the 1949 National Parks and Access Act. My elders tell me that the Bill was ambushed in the House of Lords by agents of the Scottish Landowners Federation, who had the ROW mapping measures for Scotland removed. Ordnance Survey were compelled to publish by the same Act.
Why Scottish lowland ROW are important.
I am an active Cycle Trail Leader and Mountain Leader. As well as teaching navigation and leading adults on leisure trips, I am an expedition Trainer, Supervisor and Assessor for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme (I am not a spokesman for them). Through DofE Expeditions, we introduce complete novices to rural wayfinding; it's up to 12,000 new young people a year now, in Scotland. According to DofE rules the routes have to be found on O.S. 25th and 50th maps. The requirement for DofE Bronze and Silver trips is for a multi day linear route on tracks, paths and lanes, through rural pasture and arable countryside, avoiding settlements and tarred roads. The same specifications suit cycle trail riders and the “Rambler” type of walking tourist. DofE type routes are abundant in England and Wales, making planning and carrying out lowland expeditions there comparatively simple. This is a direct result of Ordnance Survey ROW mapping making lowland rural routes easy to find, and the subsequent footfall keeping the routes open. If the path isn't on the OS database, it isn't going to be used enough for the footfall to keep it open. This is about real, physical, access, not just legal rights. Try fighting your way across a landscape of ploughed, hawthorn hedged, fields where the stiles are a derelict remnant, and without knowing where the gates line up. If, through some effort, you can discover the route of one of the hidden ROW of Scotland, and follow it, you will find that, where the route crosses field boundaries, there are decayed stiles, foot bridges and markers. These are vanishing fast through lack of use, which stems from lack of easily available maps.
Why Scottish upland ROW are important.
The 2003 Scottish Access Code allows estate mangers, pretty much on a whim, to shut off areas of open countryside for “management” purposes. They can't shut ROW without a Traffic Order under the Highways Act, to do so would be a criminal offence. In September a year back I was shadowing a DofE team of 15 year old girls through the southern Highlands. Four times in two days the girls were intercepted by armed adults, quizzed, and told that they were not welcome. Each time the girls were on a ROW, and each time I intervened. Once a self confident adult rocked up the grim faced shootists backed off. In similar past incidents I have had to suggest summoning a Constable before they climbed down.
Why Scottish ROW are politically important.
ROW already exist throughout rural Scotland, some of them for hundreds of years. Freedom of movement on a Public ROW is an ancient Civil Right. The details of Scottish ROW are catalogued by Public servants at Public expense but are deliberately stored in such a way as to make Public use difficult. Your self appointed feudal Masters do not want you to know where your ROW are in case you use them. “It's absolutely ridiculous that you are up here!”, one landed Gent shouted at me, him sitting on his petrol driven quad bike and me on my pushbike.
This is a Civil Rights matter which affects everyone who goes to the outdoors in Scotland. Please make your opinions, any opinions, clear to the Scottish Government. If you are resident in Scotland, please write to your MSP about this. If you are not resident in Scotland but plan to visit, please write to either First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, or the Scottish Environment Minister, Aileen McLeod MSP, care of the Parliament of Scotland, Edinburgh, EH99 1SP. MSP's and Scottish Government Ministers have public contact details advertised on the Scottish Government website, http://www.scotland.gov.uk
Thanks for your interest folks.
Might be worth a wee e-mail to your MSPs.
