Countryside maps form peace treaty for farmers and right-to-roamers

The long-awaited right to roam came a big step closer with the publication of the first maps showing the proposed "open countryside" where ramblers and walkers will have a legal right of access.

Draft maps for two regions of England, the South-east and the North-west, were published by the Countryside Agency, detailing the areas of mountain, moor, down, heath and registered common land that will be opened up under last year's Countryside and Rights of Way Act. Cultivated land, such as crops and pasture, is not affected.

The maps, 85 in total and published initially on the agency's website, showed 13 per cent of the North-west and a mere 3 per cent of the South-east as being covered by the new provisions.

In the North-west, the "open countryside" designation will be given to large chunks of the Peak District and the Pennines. Ramblers will be delighted that it covers Kinder Scout, the Derbyshire moorland that was the scene of violent clashes between gamekeepers and ramblers in the 1930s and has become a symbol of the right-to-roam movement. It also covers the Forest of Bowland in north Lancashire, where the Duke of Westminster owns large estates from which ramblers have in the past been excluded. In the South-east, a much smaller area is proposed – mainly the chalk grassland of the South Downs and the Surrey hills and heaths west of Guildford – as most of the countryside is low-lying or cultivated and does not fit the Act's criteria.

Richard Wakeford, the Countryside Agency's chief executive, said: "It has struck me how little understanding there is about what the Act means. There's a lot of people who think they're going to be able to walk in every farm field as a result of this legislation, and there's a lot of farmers who fear that people will be able to walk in every field. That is not the case."

The release of the maps marks the first time that the farmers and landowners who have opposed the right to roam, and the ramblers who have fought for it for decades, know exactly what is allowed in two regions of England. Six more regions will follow. The maps will now be the subject of a massive three-month consultation exercise, involving half a million leaflets and 29 roadshows.

Alun Michael, the Rural Affairs minister, appealed for understanding from both sides of the debate. "There will be those who want greater access than is provided for, and some who object to access and don't want people on their land at all," he said. "I hope those who manage land and those who want access will approach this with goodwill, because with a bit of goodwill it will be possible to increase the sense that people are welcome in the countryside.

"There are some farmers who are obstructive. There are some farmers who simply don't want anyone on their land and that's the beginning and the end of it.

"But that's a medieval approach to access. Most farmers have an increasing understanding, just as most walkers do about their responsibilities."

The Country Land & Business Association warned yesterday that the new law should not "simply become one that provides rights for users and responsibilities for land managers". Sir Edward Greenwell, its president, said: "We are concerned about the necessary infrastructure and management of access to this land. Agriculture has largely created this precious national asset, but farmers and land managers must not be burdened with the additional cost of providing access to this new open land; nor must the new access hinder other activities on the land."

The mapping exercise for the two regions will be finished by the middle of 2003, and for England as a whole by the middle of 2005. Whether the right to roam will be available on the first date or the second is a decision for Margaret Beckett, the Secretary of State for the Environment.