Joined by a few members from the Sheffield group, they drew attention to the shortcomings of the Government’s proposal for just nine designated river walks announced last year. A legislative change of a right to roam, one that allows responsible access, would be cheaper, simpler, and far fairer.

Our Access Friendly Farmers and Landowners (AFFLO) , provide a brilliant counternarrative to the CLA rhetoric, full of nuance and insight from sympathetic land managers who are helping us work out how a right of responsible access can work for all.

Permissive arrangements sound better than nothing, but create a confusing and insecure patchwork of access, where all power remains with landowners and none with the public. Time and again we’ve seen how permission can be revoked overnight.

Meanwhile, 100 pedestrians are killed and 1,500 seriously injured each year walking on rural roads. Crucially, where access is granted by right or by permission, landowners’ liability over injury is reduced. The numbers speak for themselves: giving people safe routes across land could save lives.

Safety is important, but blatant scaremongering is unacceptable. Government data shows that, on average, only three access users a year die on UK farmland, and just one within the last five years in Scotland, where they already have a right of responsible access.

Discussions along the way focused on how landowners and the public could collaborate by sharing information about sensitive habitats to promote responsible enjoyment. The group ended the walk at a traditional local swimming spot: technically trespass, precarious, but generally long tolerated.

The walk supported the national Right to Roam campaign and questioned whether the government’s “Nine River Walks” promise goes far enough, where we’re calling for a Scottish-style right of responsible access, including to rivers.

The event was not aimed at particular local landowners or angling groups, who do valuable conservation work, but sought to highlight how little of the Wensum is open to the public. Of its 75 km, only around 7% can be walked as of right, and just 16% in total.

Our Land is showing at a run of film festivals around the country, starting with Leeds Film Festival tomorrow (4th of November), which will have a Q&A after with Orban Wallace, Charlie Phillips and our very own Nadia Shaikh. To then be released nationally in cinemas from spring next year!

Blending historical context with present-day action, the film explores the deeply rooted issues of access, ownership and conservation, and asks the urgent question: who truly has the right to roam?

The group conducted a litter pick before meeting up with the ‘friends of the River Dart’ flotilla.

On the River Dart alone, there are 108 different landowners, meaning negotiating permissive access would be a logistical nightmare, whereas a simple law change to a right of responsible access would unlock all of our rivers.

4/ For more on the upcoming 9 river trespasses, organised by local groups across England, check out @righttoroam.bsky.social's socials, and have a read of this story: www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...

3/ As we found on our trespass along the River Dart today, plenty of landowners have already created private walks along the river. The physical infrastructure is already there. But outdated trespass laws mean the public has no right of access.

Let's create a right of responsible access in England