Right to Roam Act 2015 1

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Right to Roam Act 2015

2015 CHAPTER 1
BILL 20

An Act to allow more freedom over land and waterways for the public of the United
Kingdom.
[9th January 2015]

B E IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of
the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled,
and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1 Access rights
(1) It is the right of every person
(a) subject to section 3, to be on land for any purpose set out in subsection (2),
(b) to cross the land, and
(c) to freely use any of the waterways operated by the Canal & River Trust (a
company registered under company number 07807276).
(2) The purposes referred to in subsection (1)(a) are
(a) recreational purposes,
(b) the purpose of carrying out a relevant educational activity, and
(c) the purpose of carrying out, commercially or for profit, an activity which the
person could otherwise carry out other than commercial or for profit.
(3) Subject to section 2 and subsections (4) and (5), the rights afforded by subsection (1)
(the access rights) apply in relation to all land.
(4) A person has the access rights only if the rights are exercised responsibly.
(5) In determining whether a person is exercising the access rights responsibly, a
person is to be presumed to be exercising the rights responsibly if
(a) the rights are exercised so as not to cause unreasonable interference with any
of the rights (whether access rights, rights associated with ownership of the
land, or otherwise) of any other person, and
(b) the person takes reasonable care to avoid the causing of damage to the land.
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2 Land excluded from the access rights

(1) The access rights are not exercisable in respect of land
(a) on which there is
(i) a building or other structure, works or plant, or
(ii) a caravan, tent or other place affording a person privacy or shelter,
(b) which forms
(i) the curtilage of a building which is not a dwellinghouse,
(ii) the curtilage of a group of buildings where none of the buildings is a
dwellinghouse, or
(iii) a compound or enclosure containing any structure, works or plant,
(c) comprising, in respect of the places set out in paragraph (a)(ii), such adjacent
land as to afford a person living in the replaces reasonable privacy and ensure
that the enjoyment of the places by that person is not unreasonably disturbed,
(d) not being land falling under paragraph (c) to which two or more persons have
rights in common and which is being used by those persons as a private
garden,
(e) to which access is prohibited, excluded or restricted under any other
enactment,
(f) which has been developed or set out
(i) as a sports or playing field, or
(ii) for a particular recreational purpose,
(g) in which crops are sown or are growing,
(h) which has been deemed unsuitable by the Canal & River Trust for public
usage, or
(i) which the local unitary authority has excluded as the result of a request under
subsection (5).
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)(a)(i), none of the following is to be regarded as a
structure
(a) a bridge or tunnel,
(b) a causeway,
(c) a launching site,
(d) a groyne, weir, boulder weir, or embankment of a canalised waterway,
(e) fence or wall, or
(f) anything designed to facilitate passage.
(3) Nothing in this section prevents or restricts the exercise of access rights in relation
to land which a unitary authority has designated as a core path.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (1)(f), any land in relation to which planning
permission (within the meaning of the Town and Country Planning Act 1971) has
been granted is, for the duration of the grant, to be regarded as having been
developed or set out.
(5) A landowner may apply to the relevant local authority to have his or her land
excluded from the access rights.

3 Conduct excluded from the access rights

The access rights are not exercisable where a person
(a) is on (or is crossing) the land in breach of an interdict or court order,
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(b) is on (or is crossing) the land for the purpose of committing an offence,
(c) is hunting, shooting, or fishing,
(d) is on (or is crossing) the land while responsible for a dog or other animal
which is not under proper control,
(e) is on (or is crossing) the land for the purpose of taking away, for commercial
purposes or profit, anything in or on the land, or
(f) is on (or is crossing) the land in or with a motorised vehicle or vessel (other
than a vehicle or vessel which has been constructed or adapted as a mobility
aid for a person with limited mobility and which is in use by such a person).

4 Extent, commencement and short title

(1) This Act extends to England and Wales.
(2) This Act comes into force on the day after Royal Assent.
(3) This Act may be cited as the Right to Roam Act 2015.