The right to get lost (Published 15/08/05)

When summertime comes and the sun shines my thoughts naturally turn to the joys of a stroll in the country. Trouble is, it’s not always as easy as it sounds. Where exactly do you walk? Where do you avoid the traffic? Where are the public rights of way so I can be sure I am not trespassing and won't be chased off by a rampant bull?

The government says I no longer need to worry about any of this, because now they have introduced the 'right to roam'. In other words, I can go more or less where I like more or less when I like. At first sight this sounds great. But then you realise that the trouble with roaming is that roaming is precisely what most of us are trying to avoid. 'Roaming' is a word that conjures up connotations of freedom. This sounds fine in theory, at least in small doses. But in practice the real worry is that if you roam too much you get lost. So the 'right to roam' is really a 'right to get lost', which doesn't sound nearly as attractive.

In theory we should not have to worry about this. Local authorities have been under a statutory duty for decades to signpost all the paths so all us strollers know precisely where we are going and how to get back again. But there is one law for them and another one for us. Our laws say 'do such-and-such or else'; they act as if their laws say 'do such-and-such unless you don't feel like it', and they invariably don't. They are wrong of course, their laws bind just as much as ours. But in the real world our legal entitlement to properly signposted footpaths is ignored, and instead we get a new right to get lost, with a catchy title about 'roaming'.

This is but one illustration of how they can be a pretty rum lot down at the Town Hall. But you don't have to put up with any old rubbish. You have your rights. That’s what we at Wilsons are here to help you enforce. Be it planning, the environment, education, whatever you like. We are here to stand up to the Town Hall mandarins for you, seven days a week!