Conflict on Land

Land-based activities that do not involve motor vehicles are probably pursued by more people than any others. The most popular activities include:

walking/rambling
dog walking
road cycling and mountain-biking
rock climbing
equestrian (horse riding and carriage driving)
orienteering

Whether people are exercising a right (such as walking along a public footpath) or acting with the landowner’s permission (such as staging an orienteering event on private land), problems can be avoided working within the rules and through sensible discussions.

But sometimes, conflicts do arise. Three common sources of conflict, together with an example of how conflicts can be addressed for each, are:

when people do not follow or are ignorant of what is ‘good practice’, a common problem with dog walking
where access to an important feature (such as for rock climbing) is denied by the land owner or manager
activities that seem inappropriate to many, such as some trail riding