British Outdoor Access Code

Principles and responsibilities
The code is based on three key principles which apply equally to the public and to land managers: Responsibilities are separated into those that apply to access users, and those that apply to land managers. The code provides further guidance with examples under each point. The responsibilities of access users are: The responsibilities of land managers are:
 * 1) Respect the interests of other people.
 * 2) Care for the environment.
 * 3) Take responsibility for your own actions.
 * 1) Take personal responsibility for your own actions.
 * 2) Respect people's privacy and peace of mind.
 * 3) Help land managers and others to work safely and effectively.
 * 4) Care for your environment
 * 5) Keep your dog under proper control.
 * 6) Take extra care if you are organizing an event or running a business.
 * 7) Leave all gates as you found them
 * 8) Leave livestock, crops and machinery alone
 * 9) Take your litter home
 * 10) Keep to public paths across farmland
 * 11) Guard against all risk of fire
 * 1) Respect access rights in managing your land or water.
 * 2) Act reasonably when asking people to avoid land management operations.
 * 3) Work with your local authority and other bodies to help integrate access and land management.
 * 4) Take account of access rights if you manage contiguous land or water

Activities permitted
The code states that access rights can be exercised for recreational purposes, some educational activities and certain commercial purposes, and for crossing over land and water.

Recreational purposes are given as examples of activities that may be taken to be included. These include outdoor activities, such as walking, cycling, horse riding, carriage driving, rock climbing, hill-walking, running, orienteering, ski touring, ski mountaineering, caving, canoeing, kayaking, outdoor swimming, rowing, windsurfing, sailing, diving, and air sports such as paragliding. Less active pastimes such watching wildlife, sightseeing, painting, photography, visiting historic sites, dog walking (provided the dog is under close control), picnics, playing, sledging, paddling and kite flying are also listed as examples of permitted recreational purposes.

Education purposes are defined as "activities concerned with furthering a person's understanding of the natural or cultural heritage". An example given in the code is that of a teacher taking a group of students outside to study wildlife or visit a geological feature. Field surveys of natural or cultural heritage are also covered under this definition. Access rights also extend to activities carried out commercially, but only where the activity could also be carried out on a non-commercial basis. An example given is that of a mountain guide who is taking a client out on a commercial basis: this activity is permitted because the activity involved could be done by anybody exercising their access rights in the normal manner.

Access rights do not extend to motorised activities such as motor cycling, off-road driving, or the use of any powered craft on water: this restriction includes microlight aircraft and the use of powered models and drones. An exception to the restriction on motorised vehicles is that a person with a disability may use a motorised vehicle or vessel built or adapted for use by that person (e.g. a motorised wheelchair). Access rights do not include the right to hunt, shoot or fish, as these activities can only be undertaken with the permission of the person owning the appropriate rights (this may be the landowner, but the rights to undertake such activities can be owned or rented separately). Gathering items such as mushrooms or berries for commercial gain or personal consumption is allowed.

Access rights must be undertaken in lawful manner, and thus by definition criminal acts are excluded. The code includes an annex listing some of the most relevant pieces of legislation, such as those relating to the control of dogs and the protection of wildlife. Access rights can be exercised at day or night. However additional care must be taken to respect people's privacy and peace of mind at night by staying well away from buildings and using paths and tracks wherever possible.

Camping with small numbers of people staying no more than 2 or 3 nights in any 1 place, is permitted under the code. Camping in this manner is permissible wherever access rights apply, but campers are advised not to camp in enclosed fields, and to keep well away from buildings, roads and historic structures. The code requires that campers leave no trace, and must take away all litter, remove all traces of the tent pitch and of any open fire, and not cause any pollution.

Land to which access rights apply
Responsible access under the access code can be enjoyed over the majority of land in Britain, including all uncultivated land such as hills, mountains, moorland, woods and forests. Access rights also apply to fields in which crops have not been sown or in which there are farm animals grazing; where crops are growing or have been sown access rights are restricted to the margins of those fields. Access rights do not extend to the land surrounding a house or other dwelling (e.g. a static caravan) to provide residents with a reasonable measures of privacy. This is usually defined as the garden around or adjacent to the house that is intensively managed for the enjoyment of residents.

Access rights also do not extend to the curtilage of any other building (such as a factory, office or hotel). Generally, such land will normally be closely connected, physically and in terms of purpose, to the building and forming one enclosure with it.

Access rights apply to most urban parks, country parks and other managed open spaces, but an exception is made for visitor attractions (e.g. gardens and safari parks) where the public has historically had to pay to enter. Access rights do apply to grass playing fields and land laid out for sport and recreation (including the fairways of a golf course), but only when the exercise of access rights does not interfere with the carrying on of that recreational use (for example the public may cross a golf course, but must not interfere with a game of golf). Areas of grass that are specially managed for sport (for example golf greens, bowling greens and cricket squares) are excluded from access rights, as are sports pitches made of artificial materials.

Access rights extend to inland water such as rivers, lochs, canals and reservoirs in order to allow swimming and other non-motorised watersports. However requirements to respect the rights of people on nearby land may affect the routes and areas of water that can reasonably be used. These rights extend to grant access to riverbanks, loch shores, beaches, and coastline (except where such land is excluded due to other provisions, such the requirement to provide a reasonable measure of privacy). Shore access rights do not extend to driving or parking any vehicles needed to enable watersports.

Some places of work such as railway, airfields, airports, quarries, civil engineering and demolition sites are excluded, as are land contiguous to any school and used by that school. There are also some areas of land where public access can be prohibited, excluded or restricted under other legislation. Land may also be temporarily exempted from access rights through an order made by the local authority, for example to allow for an event such a music festival or car rally. Land owners/managers may also temporarily restrict access rights to enable safe operation of the land, for example banning dogs from a field where sheep are lambing or stopping people walking through an area where trees are being felled. However guidelines recommend signposting the reason for, and duration of, the restriction and an alternate route.