Open Access Areas
Areas of Open Access Land in the Broads
On 31 October 2005, the right of access to open country and registered common land came into force in eastern England. This was introduced under part 1 of the
Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (the CRoW Act). About 150 hectares of the Broads is affected - 11 areas of registered common and three areas of 'open country', making a total of 14 areas of access land.
Open country has been defined under the CRoW Act as mountain, moorland, downland and heathland. Most of these are in short supply in the Broads, but Herringfleet Hills near Somerleyton, part of Outney Common in Bungay and East Ruston Allotments have all been marked as open country on the conclusive maps. This means that, subject to certain restrictions, the public is allowed recreational access to these areas throughout the year.
As the 14 areas lie within the Broads executive area, the Broads Authority, in common with other national park authorities, has the twin roles of 'Access Authority' and 'Relevant Authority' for them. Amongst other duties, this enables the Broads Authority to appoint wardens for areas of land and to place notices indicating boundaries, restrictions and exclusions. The Broads Authority is also the body which will determine applications from landowners and others with legal interests to exclude or restrict access.
The Broads Local Access Forum has a key role in advising the Broads Authority on these functions, and will be a statutory consultee in applications for restriction and exclusion.
The right of access to the East of England marks the final stage in the introduction of access land, allowing walkers to enjoy almost three quarters of a million hectares of land which was previously off limits.
For further information on access rights and maps of access land, please visit www.countrysideaccess.gov.uk
The following are some of the sites where the countryside access rights apply:
East Ruston Allotments
(partly within the Broads Authority executive area):
School Road, East Ruston, Norfolk
This is an area of heathland and ponds which is very heavily overgrown with gorse, but there are footpaths criss-crossing the site.
Please use the existing access points.
Herringfleet Hills
Near Somerleyton, Suffolk
This is an area of grass heath and mixed woodland owned by Somerleyton Estates, and currently managed by the Broads Authority as a countryside recreation site.
From the car park a network of footpaths leads to a viewpoint, with fine views over the Waveney valley, including Herringfleet Mill.
Outney Common
Near Bungay, Suffolk
There are other areas of access land within the Broads. Please check the maps at
www.countrysideaccess.gov.uk
for details.
