Almost 75% of England’s riverbanks ‘off limits’ to public, figures show
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- Right to Roam found that 71% of riverbanks along main rivers and tributaries across 89 river catchments in England lack any adjoining access to land or right of way within 100m of the water.
- There is no defined statutory right to the water itself on 96% of rivers in England and Wales, leaving activities such as swimming and paddling routinely contested by landowners.
- Lewis Winks of Right to Roam is urging new environment secretary Angela Eagle to launch a long-delayed consultation on access as part of a nature green paper and introduce a right of responsible access in the next King's Speech.
- Regional disparities are stark: 90% of riverbank in the Severn Middle Shropshire catchment has no access, compared with 49% in the New Forest catchment.
- Long-distance trails named after rivers often cannot follow them — the Severn Way between Shrewsbury and Telford diverts more than 800m from the river in places, and most of the 44-mile Test Way does not run alongside the chalk stream.
- Winks said the first of Keir Starmer's nine pledged national river walks, on the River Mersey, has not created any additional access.
- Defra said the government is delivering nine new national river walks, a coast-to-coast route in northern England, and the 2,700-mile King Charles III England coast path.
Why it matters: With 96% of English and Welsh rivers carrying no statutory public access, swimmers and paddlers face contested legal terrain against landowners. Campaigners are pressing new environment secretary Angela Eagle to convert a long-delayed consultation into a binding right of responsible access — but Right to Roam says the government's flagship River Mersey walk created zero new access points, undermining the pledge.
