Rivers Access Campaign

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The Rivers Access Campaign is being undertaken by the British Canoe Union (BCU) to open up the inland water-ways in England and Wales on behalf of members of the public. Under current UK law public access to rivers is restricted, and only 2% of all rivers in England and Wales have public access rights. The BCU is using the campaign not just to raise awareness of the access issues, but to try and bring about changes in the law.

The campaign uses slogans such as "We have been given the Right To Roam, But not Permission To Paddle!"^[1] and "Access for All". Also a series of informative posters and pamphlets have been produced using cartoon artwork by Andrew Quick.^[2]

1 Access situation
- 1.1 The law
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Access situation

There are 4,540Km of inland river and canal in England and Wales with navigation rights.
There are over 65,000Km of inland rivers with no access.^[3]

England and Wales are almost unique^[4] in the level of restriction upon their waterways and are considered two of the most difficult places in the world to gain access to rivers. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 grants a "Right to Roam" and allows free access to non-agricultural land in England and Wales. But Angling interests successfully lobbied for the exclusion of inland waterways from the act{cn}. Amongst the other countries with virtually limitless public access rights to waterways is Scotland, where the Scottish Parliament passed the Land Reform (Scotland) Act in 2003, which grants access for both land and inland waterways to the public.

The UK government has encouraged canoeists to seek negotiations and create access agreements for privately owned water with land owners throughout England and Wales. For over 50 years both the BCU and WCA have been working to seek these agreements for access, and this has resulted in 812Km, a total 4% of all privately owned linear waterways in England and Wales, being opened up with some form of public access agreement.

The Welsh Canoeing Association estimate that there are around 300 rivers in Wales are suitable for kayaking, 13 of which have any form of legal access agreement.^[5]

Most of these agreements are outdated and restrictive, permitting access only on certain days of the year or for short sections of the river. The government has decided to pursue further agreements in 4 study areas, over a 2 year trial period. However there is no guarantee that this trial will grant further access, with recent government studies showing that access agreements are unlikely to be able to provide the necessary resources needed for water sports.

[edit] The law

Legally the water itself is not owned, whoever owns the land along the river's edge (the riparian owner) also owns the property rights to the river bed. And under current UK laws, anyone on that water without permission from the riparian owner is trespassing. This is a civil offence, and may incur a fine or possibly a court injunction to prevent further trespassing. This applies to any member of the public, be they canoeists, rowers, swimmers or simply walkers stopping off on the river side to dip their feet.

The only arrestable offence is Aggravated Trespass, under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, where a criminal offence is committed whilst trespassing. There must also be intent to disrupt or intimidate those engaged in lawful activities.

The Rivers Access Campaign's main goal is to bring in a new Act to grant a public right of navigation along all waterways in England and Wales, similar to the Scottish Land Reform Act.