Right to roam costs criticised in report

The introduction of the government's right to roam laws cost £69 million, almost double the original estimate, a report by the National Audit Office has found.

The report found that the information on how to use the new rights were "generally good". However, it also said that there were "lessons to be learned" on estimating and managing costs.

The NAO said that the Countryside Agency's initial estimate for implementing open access was £28 million, but £52.6 million was eventually spent on the project. The report said that this was partly due to the difficulties of estimating the cost of a one-off project, but said that a "desire to avoid delays" meant that the agency had not run a pilot scheme.

The parliamentary spending watchdog also criticised the Countryside Agency for not adequately assessing the risks involved, which has resulted in the amount of work needed to map access land being underestimated.

However, after visiting 79 sites in England, the NAO said that scheme had passed the key test: whether walkers can use it.

In 95% of the visits, the NAO found that there was easy access to the land and that it was possible to walk across land without obstruction in more than 90% of the cases.

Obstacles which did exist appeared to pre-date the right to roam, the NAO, said, but in most cases, changes were already planned.

However, the report did note that people from inner cities and those on low incomes may have difficulties making use of this new right, because only 20% of the sites were accessible by bus or train.

The report said that the Ordnance Survey task of revising maps in time was "largely accomplished", with all 69 walking maps covering the first four access areas being issued when the right came into effect.

Leaflets about open access were also found to be available at most two information centres and two thirds of staff could answer questions about open access.

Most sites were also clearly signposted, although 27% had no signs and some outdated signs which the NAO suggested could cause confusion.

The report also found that although details of access land were available on the countryside access website, the site was difficult to navigate and the maps were difficult to read.

The report recommended that the Countryside Agency reviewed the use of its open access website to ensure that the information was easy to find; encouraged clear signs on where dogs were allowed; encouraged authorities to consider promoting weekend bus services; and test work required for the ten-year review of access maps to develop accurate estimates of the likely cost.

The right of access was introduced by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and was introduced on an area by area basis between September 2004 and October 2005, two months ahead of the target in December.

(KMcA)