"Open Country" is a designation used for some UK access land. It was first defined under the

National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which created the National Parks Commission which later became the Countryside Commission and then the Countryside Agency, which became ...

(and extended by the

Countryside Act 1968 The Countryside Act 1968 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom which enlarged the conservation and recreation functions of the existing National Parks Commission and re-named it the Countryside Commission. It provided for the establishmen ...

), and was land over which an appropriate access agreement had been made. In particular significant upland areas of the northern

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southe ...

, where there had been much dispute over access prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, were so designated (see ''

Mass trespass of Kinder Scout The mass trespass of Kinder Scout was a trespass by members of the Young Communist League, the youth branch of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), at Kinder Scout in the Peak District, Derbyshire, England, on 24 April 1932, to highligh ...

''). The term is also used in the

Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (c. 37), known informally as the CRoW Act or "Right to Roam" Act is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament affecting England and Wales which came into force on 30 November 2000. Right to roam The Act imp ...

to describe 'areas of mountain, moor, heath and down' that are generally available for access under that Act. (It appears that the rights conferred by this new definition are in general less comprehensive than those conferred under the 1949 Act, but will apply to a wider area.) The

Countryside Agency The Countryside Agency was a statutory body set up in England in 1999 with the task of improving the quality of the rural environment and the lives of those living in it. The agency was dissolved in 2006 and its functions dispersed among other bod ...

's publication ''Managing Public Access'' appears to envisage that most land originally designated under the 1949 Act will in due course receive redesignation under the CRoW Act, as the original access agreements lapse.Natural England website: Managing Public Access
/ref>

References

External links

Open Country
BBC Radio 4 Law of the United Kingdom Walking in the United Kingdom Freedom to roam {{UK-law-stub