MORE than 60% of people in Britain support following in Scotland's footsteps across the Border and introducing a right to roam in England, a poll has found.
It comes following a recent High Court ruling that found that wild camping on Dartmoor - the only remaining English bastion where camping was allowed without permission - was unlawful.
A survey of 2029 people conducted by YouGov on behalf of campaign group Right to Roam found cross-party support for the idea, according to The Times.
READ MORE: Edinburgh royals protester denounces his arrest as 'totally political'
Of Labour voters, 74% backed the policy in some form. For the Conservatives and the Lib Dems, the figures were 56% and 66% respectively.
Of the total surveyed, only 5% strongly opposed the policy while 62% agreed, providing limitations be put in place to protect private gardens, crop fields and military and conservation sites.
Since the Dartmoor ruling, Labour has committed to extending the right to roam in some form in England.
Environment secretary Therese Coffey has named "access to nature" one of her top five priorities - however that does not explicitly refer to the right to roam.
Right to Roam campaigner Guy Shrubsole told The Times: "Extending access to nature has big benefits for people’s health and is vital if we want more people to care about the ecological crisis.
"“This polling shows that bringing in a Scottish-style right to roam would be hugely popular with the public.
"What’s more, it would be a huge vote-winner.”
READ MORE: Keir Starmer speech sabotaged by young protesters
Former Labour minister Lord Chris Smith told The Times the 2000 Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act has a "profoundly unequal" impact across the country.
He said: "72 per cent of the Peak District, for example, is included, but only 0.6 per cent of Kent.
"There is virtually no right of access to England’s rivers for kayakers or wild swimmers.”
He added that Scotland has created an ideal blueprint for an act in England, saying: "“The fact that this is legislation that has been tried and tested rather thoroughly over two decades means we have an excellent template on which to build a new Right to Roam Act for England.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel