Access in England and Wales

The access situation in England and Wales is very much worse than that in Scotland. In fact access to water in these countries is probably the worst in Europe. Whereas access to water in Scotland is now a right, in England and Wales access can only be taken by agreement with the owners of both banks of the river unless the river is tidal or a Right of Navigation has been established. Landowners have only granted unconditional access to water in a very few cases, generally only applying to short stretches of water.

For a long time there has been an impasse about improving matters, but following the cancellation of the Dee tours in 2003 because they were vetoed by anglers (access to the river was only allowed in 6 days a year anyway!), and inspired by changes in Scotland, there is now considerable pressure growing amongst paddlers to get changes. While SCA has no direct influence on the access situation south of the border, may Scots paddlers do paddle "down south" and probably more would if access was improved so this page is included on the site to keep Scottish Paddlers informed of what's happening. Full details of how the current situation occurred can be found on the Shared Rivers site, and there is an online petition asking the WCA (Welsh Canoe Association) and the UK Parliament to improve access to water.