Natural England - Open Access land
Open Access land
Under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW), the public can walk freely on mapped areas of mountain, moor, heath, downland and registered common land without having to stick to paths.
People across England now have approximately 865,000 hectares of land across which they can walk, ramble, run, explore, climb and watch wildlife as they are given the freedom to access land, without having to stay on paths.
The new rights, for which people have been campaigning for over 100 years, came into effect across all of England on 31 October 2005.
CROW Access Maps:
Open Access Further Information:
Land Managers' Guidance Pack: this pack provides practical guidance for land owners and managers of open access land in England, and for those that advise them
Restrictions: Statutory restrictions on CROW access land
Consultations: Have your say on Restriction decisions
Appeals: Find out more about appeals against the Relevant Authority decisions
Fire Severity: Further details on how we are working with the MET office to manage fire risk on Open Access land.
Dedications: how to dedicate land for public access
Section 15 land: identifying land with rights of access set up before CROW
CROW Map review project: A detailed mapping review project is being undertaken as part of the Countryside and Right of Way Act 2000.
Open Access Annual Monitoring Reports: reports monitoring the impact of CROW access.
Select a region
Latest News
Welcome to OASYS, the processing system for Open Access restrictions.
- The openaccess.gov.uk website has closed and material for land owners, managers and users can be found on these pages.
- the Open Access Contact Centre address has changed to:
Open Access Contact Centre
Natural England
Block 3 Government Buildings
Burghill Road
Westbury on Trym
Bristol
BS10 6NJ
Tel: 0845 1003298
Email: openaccess@naturalengland.org.uk
Section 15 maps added to MAGIC
Section 15 land has now been added to the government's web-based interactive map service. These areas show where there are rights of access on foot, or higher rights such as horse riding, set up under enactments preceding CROW. For details on viewing the maps see Section 15.
Open Access Restriction Consultations
For further information, or to comment on consultations relating to Open Access Restrictions, look on the consultation page.