Environment Secretary David Miliband joined more than 300 people at a celebration today of the 75th anniversary of the Kinder Scout mass trespass.
Mr Miliband, seen by many as a future leader of the Labour Party, told the gathering at the Peak District town of New Mills, that land is a public good. Even private land, he said, was a public good that we should all be able to enjoy.
Environment Secretary David Miliband speaks at the Kinder 75 celebration
He said: “It should be accessible to all. That’s why I think the CRoW [Countryside and Rights of Way] Act is very, very important. What’s most interesting is that if you give responsibility to people who love nature and want to enjoy it, they will act in a responsible way.
“Change comes from the pressure from the bottom up as well as from the top down in Government. I think the lesson of the 1930s is that we should recognise that sometimes governments are behind public opinion and not always in front of it.
“The people actually changed the politics in the 1930s.
“The fact that it took 70 years to get the right to roam suggests that politics can sometimes be far too slow.”
The Environment Secretary told the meeting in New Mills Town Hall that, in the next couple of months, he would put forward proposals for coastal access.
The event was hosted by Mike Harding, folk singer, comedian, writer and former president of the Ramblers’ Association. He spoke out against the building of windfarms, which he said blighted the upland areas of the country. Kate Ashbrook, chair of the Ramblers and Sir Martin Doughty, head of Natural England, also spoke to the gathering.
Ms Ashbrook said the CRoW Act should be amended to bring England's chalk downs within the access land.
Sally Goldsmith performed her song Trespassers Will Be Celebrated and High Peak Community Arts, along with local participants, performed On Common Ground.
Former Labour deputy leader Lord Hattersley spoke, and renowned writer Jim Perrin, a friend of trespass leader Benny Rothman, gave a powerful address.
The proceedings were rounded off by Mike Harding’s rendition of The Manchester Rambler, written by Ewan MacColl.
grough will be producing a comprehensive report of the event later this week, so keep checking the site.
See grough's gallery of pictures from the Kinder Trespass 75 celebrations and order your prints
Guest
22 April 2007David Miliband knows how to butter his bread. We need more Labour politicians to support the workers rights. Is Miliband appealing to the left, or is he of the left? Joy Harkness
Guest
22 April 2007Miliband is encouraging the Ramblers thievery and destruction. As a farmer, I own around three miles of coast, which I keep in a wild state to encourage wildlife and discourage the public and animals from straying over the cliff edge. There is a good path on a safe route, with a good view from many points. The Ramblers and Miliband presumably want to rip out all of the wild area to allow walkers to get as close to the coastline as possible. I haven't been consulted yet, nor have any of my neighbours, yet it all seems to be a done deal. I am a struggling tenant farmer, and this could be the last straw. Ben M
Guest
22 April 2007New battle lines have been drawn. Miliband's nice words will not placate millionaire celebrity coast owners like Kate Bush, Jeremy Clarkson, Johnathon Ross, Jamie and Louise Redknapp, Norman Cook, Zoe Ball and Damon Albarn. Oooh, I am scared of walking on their little private beaches. Well done Kate Ashbrook. She may have taken on the old establishment, and she may win or loose the next round. Indeed, Gordon Brown may not support her, unless Miliband includes the coast in his Brown Bargain. However, after Kinder it took many years to reach this point, and Kinder was led by communists, whom the RA leaders opposed at that time. The problem we face now is the combined financial power of the landowners, including the holier than thou celebs, who could hold up coast access in the courts. If the RA is to succeed, it must press Miliband to deliver quickly, and more. We need the Scottish model in England, before agricultural land values rocket in a rural development surge. If the landowners' human rights ruse wins, and it could, we could need another Benny. Kate Ashbrook is too close to the centre. We need a trespassing youth movement, and who will lead such a movement these days? 1930s austerity and the Kinder trespass seem romantic now, but harsher times could lie ahead. Who will champion the ideal of common ownership of the soil? Public access is merely a demand for a common interest in the soil. Walking for pleasure, if it just another middle class activity, confirms the status quo. The poor are still stuck in the urban ghettos. Ramblers! Mobilise the urban poor! Hire Trespass Buses to force the coast access bill through if Brown cuts Miliband’s populist promises down to size. Invade Clarkson’s coast path, Ross’s beach, scale Albarn’s cliff. We must show the celebs that they cannot side with the rich landowning class, who are now the multinationals. Big Ron