Post by joe on May 26, 2010 9:59:33 GMT
Permissive Access
What does it mean?
Permissive Access - which gives people access to a piece of land by permission of the landowner rather than as a public right - is an option that land owners can take up as part of their Environmental Stewardship (ES) Agreement.
(ES is a government scheme open to all farmers, land managers and tenants in England. Through it Natural England rewards good stewardship of land and management that improves the quality of the environment. Natural England can also support infrastructure that helps make the route more accessible, such as kissing gates, benches etc.)
Permissive Access lasts for the length of an agreement, which is usually 10 years. Angela Smith of WfH explains the relevance of Permissive Access routes to health walks:
˜Walkers in rural areas sometimes find it difficult finding alternative routes to the town/village centre. This is often because all the land is in ownership and access is not permitted, forcing some walks to take place on roads. These can be quite dangerous because of fast traffic and the lack of paths and lighting.
Permissive routes enable a wider variety of safe routes to be available. Walk Leaders and walkers are confident in the knowledge that they are away from the danger of fast traffic and they are welcome to walk there. The routes may also be quite close by and make an interesting change to the usual walk routes.
Schemes in towns can use the routes as an alternative to street or park walks. Permissive Access routes are a good idea for a day out or for a reward to Walk Leaders, thereby encouraging greater use of the countryside.'
Angela Smith, Lead Adviser Walking for Health and Green Exercise, West Midlands
Ellesmere Health Walk Scheme (see below) has set up a farm walk using permissive access.
In Natural England in the West Midlands, the ES and WfH teams have been working together to help promote both permissive and educational access as a ˜one off' option that groups may wish to take as a special day out.
The Ellesmere health walk scheme have been very proactive and set up a visit themselves to Rednall Farm in north Shropshire. On this farm, the land owner is paid an annual reward for allowing the public access to a specific signed route. David Farncombe, walk leader with Mere Ambles, part of the Ellesmere walking group, arranged for the group to go on a health walk along this route and it was very successful.
This was our first visit to Rednall Farm and the walkers certainly enjoyed what was a completely new route to us all. We walked along a permissive footpath and bridleway on wide close-cut grass field edges with surprisingly wide views (for north Shropshire!). There were no stiles and the light sandy soils mean that it is probably walkable all year. David Farncombe
Health walk schemes are always on the look out for new, interesting and different places to walk, appropriate to the abilities of their walkers. Farms may be suitable places to visit and therefore schemes are encouraged to find out what may be available to them locally by searching for details of permissive access walks on Natural England's Countryside Walks Register at cwr.naturalengland.org.uk.
What does it mean?
Permissive Access - which gives people access to a piece of land by permission of the landowner rather than as a public right - is an option that land owners can take up as part of their Environmental Stewardship (ES) Agreement.
(ES is a government scheme open to all farmers, land managers and tenants in England. Through it Natural England rewards good stewardship of land and management that improves the quality of the environment. Natural England can also support infrastructure that helps make the route more accessible, such as kissing gates, benches etc.)
Permissive Access lasts for the length of an agreement, which is usually 10 years. Angela Smith of WfH explains the relevance of Permissive Access routes to health walks:
˜Walkers in rural areas sometimes find it difficult finding alternative routes to the town/village centre. This is often because all the land is in ownership and access is not permitted, forcing some walks to take place on roads. These can be quite dangerous because of fast traffic and the lack of paths and lighting.
Permissive routes enable a wider variety of safe routes to be available. Walk Leaders and walkers are confident in the knowledge that they are away from the danger of fast traffic and they are welcome to walk there. The routes may also be quite close by and make an interesting change to the usual walk routes.
Schemes in towns can use the routes as an alternative to street or park walks. Permissive Access routes are a good idea for a day out or for a reward to Walk Leaders, thereby encouraging greater use of the countryside.'
Angela Smith, Lead Adviser Walking for Health and Green Exercise, West Midlands
Ellesmere Health Walk Scheme (see below) has set up a farm walk using permissive access.
In Natural England in the West Midlands, the ES and WfH teams have been working together to help promote both permissive and educational access as a ˜one off' option that groups may wish to take as a special day out.
The Ellesmere health walk scheme have been very proactive and set up a visit themselves to Rednall Farm in north Shropshire. On this farm, the land owner is paid an annual reward for allowing the public access to a specific signed route. David Farncombe, walk leader with Mere Ambles, part of the Ellesmere walking group, arranged for the group to go on a health walk along this route and it was very successful.
This was our first visit to Rednall Farm and the walkers certainly enjoyed what was a completely new route to us all. We walked along a permissive footpath and bridleway on wide close-cut grass field edges with surprisingly wide views (for north Shropshire!). There were no stiles and the light sandy soils mean that it is probably walkable all year. David Farncombe
Health walk schemes are always on the look out for new, interesting and different places to walk, appropriate to the abilities of their walkers. Farms may be suitable places to visit and therefore schemes are encouraged to find out what may be available to them locally by searching for details of permissive access walks on Natural England's Countryside Walks Register at cwr.naturalengland.org.uk.