Over 300 people took part in the mass trespass. Credit: Curtis James According to Landscapes of Freedom, there is only a right to roam on 8% of England under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (CROW, 2000). Trespasser Nick Hayes, co-founder of the Right to Roam campaign, said the statistic is a “national scandal”. “We all need greater access to nature on a regular basis, for our physical and mental health – our sedentary lifestyles cost society around £8 billion every year,” he said. “That’s one reason why we’re campaigning for a greater Right to Roam over our downland, woods, rivers and Green Belt.”
A mass trespass is due to take place on the Brighton Downs on Saturday, July 24 “Our woods, our farm fields, our streams and waterlands, and many of our lanes and tracks are forbidden to us,” he said. “And on our local downs landowners continue to exclude the public even on some sites where we now have a statutory right of access. “The land should be our common delight because our common ancestors shaped and formed it, and we collectively make and consume its products. It is our common heritage.
A mass trespass is due to take place on the Brighton Downs on Saturday, July 24