It is sad to read that right to roam only applies to 8% of land in England (92 constituencies in England allow no right to roam, data shows, 13 May). No wonder Westminster politicians will be debating this huge barrier to the enjoyment of nature on 18 May. Why is such access so limited in England when the opposite is true in Scotland? Here, public access rights apply to most land and water, even around our own densely populated cities, so long as we follow the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.
Today’s Westminster politicians need to come north and learn about access to nature. The annual prime ministerial visit to Balmoral provides the perfect opportunity. King Charles can demonstrate how rights of public access apply to most land and water on the Balmoral estate and in the surrounding hills, woods and fields, whether on foot, bike or horseback. If the king and any member of the public can exercise right to roam in this way, then the prime minister should return south with a determination to deliver equal rights of access to nature for all citizens. England deserves no less.
Dave Morris
Kinnesswood, Kinross
• The distribution of Labour and Tory MPs follows lines of Labour success in urban areas and Conservative in rural. It should be no surprise, therefore, that it is Conservative constituencies that have any land to roam on at all.
While the report does not detail what green space is counted in cities, where I live in Manchester the council has a policy for how much green space there should be by population, a useful measure in planning, vindicated by the pandemic. A more egalitarian way of quantifying right to roam would be what percentage of green space is available to roam in each constituency, otherwise it would appear that having a large piece of the pie only means you have to share less of it.
Laura Collier
Manchester
• Were I a ground-nesting warbler, I would look askance at Guy Shrubsole’s campaign for a right of access to the majority of land. Right to roam in England means, to most, right to roam with my dog, and these panting predators disturb and disrupt vast swathes of potential nesting sites. This has been exacerbated by the recent sharp rise in dog ownership, and the seeming unwritten right to own a dog, whatever the circumstances. For the sake of our birdlife, I am grateful for military sites and well-managed hunting estates.
Tom Lerwill
Bronygarth, Shropshire
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
