Writer and community activist Dee Searle 

I BET I’m not the only CNJ reader looking forward to spring picnics and meeting friends in our borough’s open spaces, such as Hampstead Heath or the Regent’s Park, as a free leisure activity to take our minds off the cost of living crisis.

But we’ll need to think more carefully about where and how we gather, if we don’t want to find ourselves on the wrong side of several new laws.

Contrary to popular belief, the classic “trespassers will be prosecuted” warning was, until now, untrue.

Trespassing means the “unjustifiable interference with land which is in the immediate and exclusive possession of another” and the Crown Prosecution Service admits that it’s “not of itself a criminal offence”.

However amendments last year to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 muddied the water by introducing dozens of new “Trespasses and Nuisances on Land” that can be punished by fines or prison.

These offences are set to be expanded by the controversial Public Order Bill, currently going through parliament. This is aimed at curtailing protests and has been criticised by many law reform and human rights organisations as criminalising a wide range of peaceful behaviour.

The threat is compounded because many of Camden’s open spaces are actually privately owned. These include the Regent’s Park and Hampstead Heath, plus Primrose Hill, Granary Square, and the innovative Camden Highline, which has just been given planning permission.

In theory there shouldn’t be a difference between how private and public owners control access to their property. But in practice private landowners are more likely to impose restrictions and seek damages.

Alexander Darwall, the hedge fund manager who owns 1,620 hectares of Dartmoor National Park, flexed his private muscles last month when he used the courts to outlaw wild camping on the moor.

In an attempt to retain the established right, the Dartmoor National Park Authority agreed to pay an annual camping fee to Darwell and other landlords who between them own more than half the moor, although this covers a much-reduced area.

By the way, you can’t wild camp on Hampstead Heath (managed by the City of London Corporation) either. Nor can you “climb any tree or on or over any gate, fence or railing” nor “wilfully break or damage any ice on any pond or lake”. These are among the 47 bylaws enforced by the Hampstead Heath Constabulary.

It’s not surprising that much of Camden’s open space is in private hands, given that “just over 400 hectares of central London’s super-prime real estate belongs to the Crown, the Church, and four wealthy aristocratic estates”, according to the BBC’s Countryfile Magazine.

A study last year by the author Guy Shrubsole found that half of England is owned by less than 1 per cent of the population, mainly corporations and members of the aristocracy.

Unlike in Scotland, Scandinavia, the Baltic states and several other European countries, there is no “freedom to roam” in England.

A survey by Friends of the Earth, concluded that 39 per cent of Camden’s population don’t have direct access to a garden or public green space and our borough is the 12th most green-deprived in the country.

This deprivation is set to rise as developers and Camden Council press ahead with dense, high-rise estates and offices, often covering existing greenery with concrete.

The phrase “use it or lose it” couldn’t be more apt. It’s up to us to make the most of our open spaces while we can and challenge attempts, such as the Public Order Bill, to give more ability to the rich and powerful to restrict people’s peaceful access.