Natural England - Know your rights, responsibilities and liabilities
Know your rights, responsibilities and liabilities
People visiting the countryside provide important income for the local economy. Most like to follow a visible route, prefer using proper access points like gates, and generally want to do the right thing - but they need your help.
- Visitors are allowed to access land in different ways. For more guidance on how this affects you and what your rights, responsibilities and liabilities are, contact your local authority or National Park authority and view our Open Access pages.
- The Ordnance Survey's 1:25,000 maps show public rights of way and designated areas of open land. These maps are generally reliable but not 'definitive' so you will need to check the legal status of rights of way with your local authority. You can find out which areas of access land are mapped under the 'Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000' on our Open Access pages.
- By law, you must keep rights of way clear and not obstruct people's entry onto access land - it's a criminal offence to discourage rights of public access with misleading signs.
- Trespassing is often unintentional - for advice on tackling trespass see our 'Managing Public Access' booklet.
- Did you know ? Dogs now must be kept on leads during the summer months in certain areas for more information please visit our open access pages.
Open Access
Our open access pages have information specifically to help land managers, and access authorities, manage open access land. This includes material on positive access management, as well as the use of restrictions if necessary. Further information and advice can also be obtained from your local authority or National Park Authority.
