Trespass to land is widely understood to mean the illegal entry of another person’s property. We live on a beautiful and largely rural island but, of course, almost all of the land in the UK is owned by someone.
Well, it might surprise you to know how easy it could be to land yourself in a legal battle for trespassing. According to the Right to Roam campaign, 92 per cent of the countryside and 97 per cent of rivers in Britain are off-limits to the public.
What does this mean exactly? For the caravan and motorhome, camping and wider adventure holiday communities, it means that wandering off a footpath, swimming in a river, exploring and educating yourself about the Great British outdoors could make you a trespasser in all but one-tenth of the UK.
Right to Roam runs plenty of events and campaigns to draw attention to the problem and keep access high up on the political agenda. Here’s what it has in store for April.
What is Trespass for Trees?
For this year’s Earth Day (Saturday 22nd April), Right to Roam is collaborating with Trash Free Trails to combat the cutting down of trees by developers, councils, landowners and contractors.
The CaravanTimes community has an innate love for all things nature, but our trees have very little protection. On private property, they’re even more vulnerable, as landowners can chop them down without anybody watching. If a tree falls in a forest and nobody is around to hear it…
Even when people stand in opposition, it’s sometimes not enough. Fortunately, those fighting against tree felling can apply for a Tree Preservation Order. In effect, any cutting would need to wait for written consent from the local authority before it can take place. This can be applied to individual trees, collections and even whole woodlands, depending on the circumstances.
Most importantly, anyone can apply to protect trees. So, Right to Roam is calling on nature lovers to identify and protect a tree of their choosing that resides in the 97 per cent of British countryside we’re generally prohibited from being in.
To find a group near you, head to the Right to Roam website, or simply enlist your friends and family to help out for a great cause. Additionally, you can identify trees near you by using the Woodland Trust Ancient Tree Inventory, which will show you whether each one is on public or private land.
Finally, in the spirit of Trash Free Trails, bring a litter picker with you on your next caravan or motorhome adventure. Let’s make it our mission to leave the world more beautiful than we found it.
Photo credit: veeterzy / Pexels
