RIGHT TO ROAM — THEY ARE OUR RIVERS — BUT TRADITION HAS DICTATED OTHERWISE — MASS TRESPASS

Can't see this message? View in browser   Ask your MP: Why can’t we access OUR river? Dear Roamers, All this month, our wonderful Right to Roam local groups are organising river trespasses across England - from the River Lark in Suffolk to the River Aire in West Yorkshire. You can find more details of their upcoming river trespasses below. But whether or not you can join one of these locally-organised trespasses, we need your help. We need you to ask your MP: why isn’t the Government giving the public access to OUR local river? Communities love their rivers, yet seldom have access to them. 96% of rivers in England & Wales don’t have a clear right of navigation for kayakers, and the right to swim in them is legally murky. Yet it’s local people - swimmers, kayakers, anglers - who care most for our rivers, and who’ve done the most to raise the alarm about our waterways being polluted with sewage, agricultural fertilisers and plastic. The UK Government has pledged to create 9 new river walks in England - but with around 1,500 rivers in the UK, it’s clear this would be just a drop in the ocean. Why should some people get greater access to their local river, and not others? As our local groups are asking: Why not our river? Ask your MP: why is the Government only promising 9 river walks - why not OUR river? To make it easy for you, we’ve drafted an email you can send your MP below. Simply copy and paste it into an email, and send it off to them - and of course, feel free to edit or add your own lines, such as about how much you love your local river. You can find your MP’s email address on the UK Parliament website here Dear ____ MP, I’m writing to you as your constituent, to urge you to call on the UK Government to make all rivers in England accessible to the public. The Government has pledged to create 9 new river walks in England - but with around 1,500 rivers in the UK, it’s clear this would be just a drop in the ocean. Why not our local river? Why not give people a right to responsibly access all rivers in England? Access to nature is so important for everyone’s physical and mental health, and being able to walk along river banks, and swim and kayak in rivers, should be everyone’s right. What’s more, it’s local people - swimmers, kayakers, anglers - who care most for our rivers, and who’ve done the most to raise the alarm about our waterways being polluted with sewage, agricultural fertilisers and plastic. But far too many of our rivers are inaccessible to their local communities: fenced off by landowners and hemmed in by archaic trespass laws, 96% of the rivers in England and Wales lack a clear right of navigation. Locking the public out of our rivers isn’t just bad for human health - it’s contributed to the poor ecological health of those rivers. It’s meant that local people can’t so easily see the pollution poured into them by water companies, can’t clear build-ups of plastic waste, and can’t help tackle outbreaks of invasive species like Himalayan Balsam. There’s a way to help fix this, which is for the Government to pass new laws giving the public a right of responsible access to all rivers in England, as well as the wider countryside. It works in Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and many other countries. We’ve had a partial right to roam in England for the past twenty years, but the law has never applied to rivers - why not? As your constituent, I ask you please to write to the Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds, urging her to legislate for a right of responsible access to England’s rivers and wider countryside. Please also raise this issue in Parliament via parliamentary questions and at upcoming debates. Thank you for your help, Yours sincerely, [INSERT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS, SO YOUR MP KNOWS YOU ARE A CONSTITUENT] ===== UPCOMING RIVER TRESPASSES Sat 29th Nov - River Aire, West Yorkshire - West Yorkshire Right to Roam. 9.45am, Apperley Bridge train station. For more details, email: righttoroamwestyorkshire@gmail.com Sat 29th Nov - River Camel, Cornwall - Right to Roam Kernow. 11am, Scarlett’s Well Road, Bodmin. For more details, email: right2roam.kernow@gmail.com Sat 29th Nov - River Blythe, West Mids - Right to Roam West Midlands. 9.45am, Solihull train station. For more details, email: righttoroam.westmids@gmail.com Sun 30th Nov - Pigeonhouse Stream - Bristol Right to Roam. 11am, Bishport Avenue Lay-by Bus Stop, BS13 OBN, What3Words: dark.cubes.often. For more details, email: rtrbristol@gmail.com Sun 7th December - River Lathkill - Right to Roam Sheffield. 11am, Alport, near Bakewell. For more details, email: right2roamsheffield@gmail.com ====== AND… A RIGHT TO ROAM GIG IN NEWCASTLE A cosy, curated Autumn evening hunkering down in support and celebration of the Right to Roam with song, story, and words from Lucy & Hazel, Johnny Campbell, and Amy-Jane Beer! 12th December, Newcastle. Buy tickets here. Happy trespassing, happy emailing & happy singing! Best wishes, Guy and the Right to Roam team --- We’ve been campaigning for bold new access legislation for five years, and with the help of the generous support of a few hundred subscribers - each donating around £5-£10 a month - we’ve been mostly able to remain untethered to the demands of grant funding and fundraising. If you feel you could become one of our monthly supporters to keep us agile and focused, please head over to our website: www.righttoroam.org.uk/donate For the latest campaign updates, follow us on Instagram & Bluesky To get involved with campaign action, check out our website here. 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