High on this government’s list of bad habits is its apparent compulsion to suppress its own reports. The latest was Lord Agnew’s review into the right to roam in England’s countryside. Currently, only 8% of English land and 3% of inland water is accessible to the public; in contrast, Scots are permitted to walk, camp, cycle, swim and kayak on most of their nation’s open spaces.
Agnew’s report was planned to create “a quantum shift in how our society supports people to access and engage with the outdoors”. The Treasury, however, in winding up the project, effectively re-emphasised its minister’s stated belief that “the English countryside is a place of business”.
