THE LATEST FROM RIGHT TO ROAM

 

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Are We Winning? Dear Roamers, Two friends, two books and a kitchen table: that was how Right to Roam began, four years ago this August. Since then the campaign has grown faster, and achieved more, than we could have hoped. We’ve held over fifteen peaceful mass trespasses, from the Scottish border to the private estate of the Minister in charge of access to nature. We’ve landed hundreds of stories in the national press about the failings of the existing system, highlighting everything from the absurdity of our 2,500+ access islands to the relative expense of CRoW and spoken on what feels like countless podcasts, panels, videos, TV interviews, op-eds, radio shows and events. The campaign was even profiled in the New York Times…    Sometimes we’ve had to play defence: spearheading the resistance against attempts by major landowners to restrict existing freedoms, whether it's the right to wild camp on Dartmoor, or walk freely, as we’ve always done, through Cirencester Park. Twelve local Right to Roam groups are now up and running, ready to fight this growing trend of neo-enclosure wherever it might be found. Meanwhile, we’ve looked for sympathetic voices within the farming and landowning world, keen to ensure genuine access issues are acknowledged and addressed.   From the start we’ve also been holding the government to account. Revealing the pitiful amount it was spending on the countryside code, the burial of the promised Agnew Review, and the complete lack of substance behind its vaunted ‘fifteen minute’ access claims. This didn’t always win us friends, with Thérèse Coffey declaring at the Tory party conference that she was “frankly fed up with the right to roam campaign.” We couldn’t have asked for a greater endorsement.   Luckily our efforts have made political inroads elsewhere. With the help of Caroline Lucas, we have seen two hearings of a new ‘Right to Roam Bill’ in parliament (since updated to more closely mimic the rights enjoyed in Scotland). We’ve commissioned two YouGov polls demonstrating the huge public appetite for reform, and lobbied ministers and advisers to make sure that passion is heard. The result is that this election, access reform featured in nearly all the major party manifestos – with two explicitly endorsing central calls of the campaign. After some initial enthusiasm, the new government has proved more cagey. Still, the manifesto promise to “improve responsible access to nature” is there. And we will be ramping up the pressure this year to make sure it is a promise that is kept.   All this has been driven by you, our supporters, whose donations, fundraisers, letters, petitions, songs, poems, artworks, meetings, logistics, tweets, posts, blogs, WhatsApps, conversations and heroic individual acts of private trespass have all helped take the campaign forward. So as we gear up for our fifth year of campaigning let’s take heart from how far we have come in a relatively short space of time. Changing the law in the face of powerful opposition is a gruelling business. But the dial is shifting, and the arguments against establishing a true right to roam here across the UK are falling one by one.   Prize Draw   A huge thanks to all of you who have contributed to the Right to Roam Prize Draw. We’re now 70% of the way to our target!   With just five days to go and a raft of amazing prizes up for grabs - from signed copies of Nick’s gorgeous art prints to top loot from outdoor brands like Patagonia, VIVOBAREFOOT and Blundstone - do chip in if you’ve got a few quid to spare. All proceeds will be supporting the campaign so we’re reading to go with a big year ahead. Help us get ready for a big year of campaigning by entering the prize draw HERE and joining our family of supporters HERE. Wild Service Book Club   The Wild Service book club is back again, with three exciting instalments coming up – including a special one off in-person event… 27th August (Tonight!)   KINSHIP – Harry Jenkinson in conversation with Paccha Turner Chuji   Harry Jenkinson, indigenous rights campaigner and author of the chapter on Kinship, will be in conversation with Kichwa artist, Paccha Turner Chuji, about what can be learned from indigenous approaches to nature guardianship as well as the need to challenge our assumptions about wilderness.    Catch us live on YouTube HERE, TONIGHT from 6.30pm. September 4th Wild Service Book Club: Live!  – Jon Moses, Paul Powlesland, Nicola Cutcher, Chantal Lyons Next week we’re hosting a special live, in-person edition of the Wild Service Book Club, in collaboration with Rossiter Books. I’ll be chatting with Paul Powlesland, founder of Lawyers for Nature and Nicola Cutcher, journalist and chair of Friends of the Wye about the entanglement of access and ecological advocacy. Taking the chair will be the excellent Chantal Lyons, author of the Wainwright shortlisted book Groundbreakers: The return of Britain’s wild boar. The event will be held in the beautiful St Mary’s Church, in Ross-on-Wye, at 7pm next Wednesday. Tickets can be purchased from Rossiter Books HERE.    September 5th   COMMUNITY  – Nicola Chester in conversation with Sophie Pavell   Also next week: Nicola Chester, author of the Wainwright shortlisted memoir, On Gallows Down: Place, Protest and Belonging will be chatting to Sophie Pavell, star of many pleasingly weird nature videos and author of Forget Me Not, a book about Britain’s endangered species (and celebrated winner of the People’s Prize for Non Fiction). Our own Guy Shrubsole will be sitting in the chair. YouTube link HERE, live from 6.30pm next Thursday.    Wild Service Workshop We have a handful of places available for our Wild Service Workshop this weekend due to some late cancellations. If you’d like to take part and learn more about how you can take action for nature in your local area, fill out this short form and we’ll be in touch. It should be a fascinating weekend with great contributors from Wild Justice, River Action, Lawyers for Nature and Trash Free Trails. More details on our Instagram page here, or in the previous newsletter. Jon, On behalf of the Right to Roam team   ----------------- P.S. We’re a campaign that punches well above its weight, but we’re run on a shoestring budget. Can you join our band of 500 amazing supporters chipping in £5 or more a month? With a new government in power and the Dartmoor Supreme Court case looming this October, we have big plans to ramp up our campaigning, but need your help to fund it. Thanks for anything you can donate! To follow us on social media: Twitter: @Right_2Roam Instagram: right.2roam Facebook: right2roam     Donate Take me to the Right to Roam website

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