Open Access in County Durham
Open Access
Part 1 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 is concerned with the provision of access on foot to registered common land and open country in England and Wales. The Act defines open country as consisting of Mountain, Moor, Heath and Down. In addition, there are large areas of registered common land spread across the County, much of which has also been made available as Open Access.
Large areas of County Durham have been mapped as Open Access land, mainly to the west in the North Pennines. The Countryside Agency (now Natural England) was charged with managing the mapping and delivering the new rights.
The County Council's Role
Durham County Council implemented the practical management of Open Access with financial support from the Countryside Agency in the form of the Access Management Grant Scheme (AMGS). This implementation was undertaken working closely with landowners to allow the public access without detriment to areas of importance for heritage and nature conservation. Access to these new areas has in the majority of cases been created along existing Public Rights of Way with appropriate signage and Access Information Points throughout the County, to ensure that the public use the new rights safely and responsibly.
Two new guides for users of the new rights are available from Natural England or can be viewed in pdf format below:
Countryside Access and the new right (2 pages, 300 kb)
Moorland Code (5 pages, 2 mb)
Two leaflets entiitled "Open Access in the North Pennines" and "Discover Open Country" have been produced by the North Pennines Area of Oustanding Natural Beauty (NPAONB), which provide general information about Open Access in the North Pennines area with suggested walks. This leaflets are available from local Tourist Information Centres, the Countryside Publications web page and the North Pennines AONB or alternatively they can be viewed in a pdf format below:
Open Access in the North Pennines (2 pages, 1.6 mb)
Discover Open Country in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (2 pages, 827kb)
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this information.
The areas of Open Access are shown on the newly published Ordnance Survey Explorer series of maps.
A County Durham Local Access Forum has now been established to help advise both the County Council and the Countryside Agency on related access issues.
User Information
More general information on Countryside Access is available from Natural England. The main areas of Open Access land in the County are within mapping area 4 and some in area 5, which became available for the public to use in May 2005.
Under the new legislation landowners are able to apply for certain restrictions. Before planning any walks on Access Land it is important that you check to see if there are any restrictions in place for the area you intend to visit. Up-to-date information can only be found on the Countryside Access website.
One of the main, long term and far reaching restrictions land managers have applied for in the North Pennines area of the County is to "exclude people with dogs" because of the potential effects on game birds. To find out where these areas are and when they are in place you should check the Countryside Access website and keep a look out for notices displayed out on site by land managers. Restrictions on Access Land do not apply to your rights to use Public Rights of Way, where in the case of dogs they must be "kept under close control at all times"
Information for Landowners/Managers
Landowners wishing to know more about their rights and responsibilities with respect to Open Access can obtain further information from the Open Access website.
See also the Rights and Responsibilities on Public Rights of Way web page for relevant information about cattle and open access land.
