Hundreds of people campaigning for the right to roam in England will take part in a mass trespass in the Dartmoor countryside to protest “ridiculous” current laws.

Organisers from the Right to Roam group are pushing for an expansion of the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act from 2000, which they say only allows partial access to about 8% of England’s countryside.

The group said hundreds of supporters will gather at Vixen Tor in Dartmoor, Devon, on 24 February for their latest mass trespass.

Highlighting the difficulties ramblers face, campaigners will cross a section of private land to get to an area – which they have dubbed the “Forbidden Island” – that has a right of access but cannot be visited by members of the public unless they trespass.

Musicians and performers will bring a makeshift boat to symbolically “sail” across the private land – with the group encouraging others to also make up their own inventive ways to trespass.

Lewis Winks, from Right to Roam, said: “The absurdity of access islands is a clear example of why our current system of access rights in England is broken.

“Often people don’t know where they have a right to go in the countryside.

“It’s ridiculous that the public have to trespass to reach these fragments of land where they have a legal right to roam – all because of our piecemeal approach to access in this country.”

Guy Shrubsole, co-founder of the group, told Sky News that more than 500 people had signed up for the mass trespass – with more expected to turn up on the day.

Read more from Sky News:
Baby was among three children found dead by police
Sunak’s appearance on GB News investigated
Snow possible as colder conditions to return

Mr Shrubsole said the group had “no ill-will” to the landowner around Vixen Tor. He added: “This isn’t about individual landowners or farmers.

“It’s about how law is constructed in England and how we only have a right to access 8% of the country and how we think the public should be trusted to have access to more of that.”

Be the first to get Breaking News

Install the Sky News app for free

England should ‘follow successful Scotland’

The CRoW Act gives people the right to roam over certain landscape types, known as “access land”, including mountains, moorland, heathland, downland and commons.

But the campaign group says the areas are often surrounded by farmed fields and other privately-owned landscapes, creating inaccessible “islands” of free-to-roam land.

They cited Natural England’s mapping of government data on CRoW access lands, which estimates that 92% of the countryside is off-limits to the public.

Mr Winks said there were no “access islands in Scotland, however, which created a default right of access to most land and water in 2003”.

He added: “With political parties pledging to increase access to nature in England it’s vital they learn from the mistakes of the past, and look instead to follow successful examples like Scotland.”

Related posts:

Police response times ‘under strain’ from pingdemic – as expert says NHS app isn’t ‘that useful anymore’ Heathrow passengers report four-hour delays after e-gate failure Michael Vaughan to miss radio show amid racism allegations, BBC says Five big supermarkets to halve environmental impact of weekly food shop by 2030 Warning over impact of rail strikes on Euro 2022 as England prepares to host tournament ‘I wouldn’t like them to see it’: Son hopes parents whose home was destroyed in heatwave fire never return to see what’s left Man who firebombed Dover immigration centre died from asphyxiation Just Stop Oil protesters arrested in second day of M25 disruption Woman dies after fire rips through block of flats Warning issued after child swept out to sea in Devon ‘Living in fear’: Wife of Northern Ireland police officer tells of anger over data breach British man arrested in murder probe after woman ‘found dead at her home in Italy’