Tomorrow will mark the 82nd anniversary of the Kinder Scout trespass. Over eighty years ago working class people defied the police and landowners with a mass trespass in the Peak District in order to assert their right to roam.

The protest led to five demonstrators being arrested and imprisoned. However, it also began the process that would see the creation of Britain’s national parks by the post-war Labour Government, and a later Labour Government would pass the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, implementing what is known as the right to roam, securing walkers’ rights over open country and common land.

However, even with these new rights the vast majority of the land in Britain is owned a small group of landowners. The Kevin Cahill book, Who Owns Britain, published shortly after the right to roam legislation, found that about 6000 landowners own 40 million of Britain’s 60 million acres of land, and that 70% of land is owned by 1% of the population. In comparison, 60 million people live in houses collectively occupying 4.4 million acres. Continue reading →