AN EAST Lancashire MP was out of step with Environment Minister Michael Meacher at a freedom to roam rally.

Pendle MP Gordon Prentice met the minister at a Ramblers Association rally in Todmorden when he called for early legislation to give the public the right to roam over open uncultivated countryside.

Hundreds of ramblers from Sheffield to Liverpool attended the event at Todmorden High School.

It was staged as part of the fight to open the Bronte moors and was one of ten rallies being held across Britain.

Mr Prentice told the rally and the minister that voluntary access schemes would not work.

A recent NOP poll showed that 85 per cent of the public supported the call for legislation.

By the end of the Parliamentary term he hoped he and others would be free to roam open countryside in the Pendle constituency and elsewhere.

"It is not an issue where you can split the difference, you have to choose,'' he said.

Mr Meacher said the government had a clear and unequivocal commitment to extend access to the countryside.

Consultations with many people including the Country Landowners' Association and the Ramblers were completed in January.

More than 2,000 documents are being examined and the department is looking very carefully at just how increased access to the countryside should be achieved, he said.

"I will be making a statement before the end of the year,'' added Mr Meacher.

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