Scottish Countryside Access Network - for people working on Outdoor Access in Scotland

Responsibility

The key to the Land Reform Act is responsibility. A person has a right of access, as long as it is exercised responsibly, and land managers have a reciprocal duty to manage, use and conduct the ownership of land in a responsible way. Guidance on what does and does not constitute responsible behaviour is given in the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, produced by SNH. This code is available online and hard copies can be viewed at all Council libraries.

 

Where not to go

• There are certain types of land over which the new access rights do not apply. These include:

• Buildings or other structures

• Curtilages of buildings that are not houses (e.g. farmyards)

• In relation to a house, sufficient adjacent land to enable persons living there to have reasonable measures of privacy in the house to ensure that their enjoyment of the house is not unreasonably disturbed

• Private gardens in common ownership

• Land next to schools

• Land developed or set out as a sports or playing field or for a particular recreational purpose

• Land in which crops have been sown or are growing (but field margins are OK)

• Land excluded by virtue of past entry by payment

And what not to do

Certain conduct is excluded from access rights

• Hunting, shooting and fishing

• Being on land when responsible for a dog or other animal not under proper control

• Taking things away from the land for commercial purposes or for profit

• Being on land with a motorised vehicle (other than one constructed or adapted for use by a person who has a disability, being used by that person)

• Being on a golf course for recreation, although a right of passage is established