REWILDING AND THE RIGHT TO ROAM

 I listened to the PM’s speech and guess what came up? He mentioned the freedom that we don't have and then he said those ‘magic words’ - REWILDING. 

I am a supported of everything that involves our natural environments and of both Guy Shrubsole (Who Owns Britain) and Nick Hayes (The Book of Trespass). They are to be applauded for their activities. 

And below is their post.

Big news: suddenly, the Treasury cares about public access to nature!

 

We’ve discovered that the Treasury has commissioned a Minister, Lord Agnew, to lead a new review into access to nature. This ‘Agnew Review’ is looking for “radical, joined up thinking” to achieve a “quantum shift in how our society supports people to access and engage with the outdoors”.

 

The review was previously secret, taking place behind closed doors – but we want to bring it into the open.

 

And now we need lots of you to call on the Treasury for a greater Right to Roam – by emailing Lord Agnew using our template letter below.

 

We have a Right to Roam over just 8% of England. So this is a golden opportunity to push for more public access to the countryside.

 

The Treasury’s new-found interest in nature is clearly motivated by the spiralling costs of sedentary lifestyles to the health service, and the way lockdown demonstrated how desperately we need regular access to nature for our physical and mental health.

 

We know that some Whitehall departments like DEFRA (the Department for the Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) are opposed to extending Right to Roam, because they’re in bed with landowning interests.

 

But the Treasury holds far more power and could ultimately overrule them.

 

Please send an email to Lord Agnew asking him to extend our Right to Roam. You can copy and paste our template letter below, and send it to Lord Agnew’s official Ministerial email address, pslordagnew@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

 

It’s even better if you can personalise your letter – perhaps by talking about rivers, woods or other green spaces in your area where you’d love to have the Right to Roam, but can’t access currently.

 

We’d be really keen to see any replies you receive, so please send them to us via the contact form at https://www.righttoroam.org.uk/.  

 

Thanks a lot for your help. We’re not a big NGO and rely on the enthusiasm and energy of the thousands of you who’ve signed up to our mailing list since we first launched just over a year ago. But together we’re having an outsize impact and building momentum. This is the latest sign that things are starting to shift in our favour.

 

All the best,

Guy and Nick x