Michael Meacher’s achievement in winning greater freedom to roam on open country in England and Wales was not a foregone conclusion, despite the inclusion of the legislation in the 1997 Labour party manifesto.
Tony Blair undertook a procrastinating consultation on whether freedom to roam could be achieved by voluntary means. Meacher faced down Blair and, nearly two years after Labour’s victory, on 8 March 1999, as minister of state for the environment, was able to announce to parliament that the government would legislate for mandatory rights: “Glorious parts of our heritage are still the preserve of the few, not the delight of the many.”
It took a further two years of painstaking negotiation and tough talking – which some would consider uncharacteristic of him – for Meacher to push through the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Although the process remains incomplete, whenever we wander on the moors, heaths and downs, we should remember the vital part he played in securing these freedoms.
