Letter: Michael Meacher and the right to roam

Michael Meacher’s achievement in winning greater freedom to roam on open country in England and Wales was not a foregone conclusion, despite the inclusion of the legislation in the 1997 Labour party manifesto.

Tony Blair undertook a procrastinating consultation on whether freedom to roam could be achieved by voluntary means. Meacher faced down Blair and, nearly two years after Labour’s victory, on 8 March 1999, as minister of state for the environment, was able to announce to parliament that the government would legislate for mandatory rights: “Glorious parts of our heritage are still the preserve of the few, not the delight of the many.”