Sheffield MP calls to extend right to green spaces and support Roma, Gypsy and Traveller communities

The representative for Sheffield Hallam constituency spoke in a Westminster Hall debate on the Don’t Criminalise Trespass petition which took place between anniversaries of the Peak District National Park and the Kinder Scout mass trespass.

Nearly 135,000 people signed the petition following the controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which sparked Kill the Bill protests in Sheffield and across the country.

The Bill would make a criminal offence of residing in a vehicle on land without permission and those breaking the rules could face a three-month prison sentence and a fine of up to £2,500.

In her speech, Ms Blake said: “I’m speaking today not only as someone who supports the right to roam freely, but as a Sheffield MP standing in a long and proud tradition of working class Sheffielders who fought for that right to roam.

“Our debate, today, is well-timed – it takes place at the epicentre of two dates that are important to my city and my constituency, and that have a significance for the whole country.”

She highlighted the 70th anniversary of the Peak District becoming the UK’s first national park on Saturday, April 17, and Ethel Haythornthwaite’s pivotal role in that.

Ms Haythornthwaite was a resident of Ms Blake’s historic constituency who founded the Sheffield Association for the Protection of Local Countryside. The Association later became the Peak District and South Yorkshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. Ms Haythornthwaite was later appointed to the National Parks Committee and helped deliver the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act.

Ms Blake also highlighted the 89th anniversary of the Kinder Scout mass trespass, which is on April 24.

The historic event was one of many regular trespasses into privately owned moorland estates, organised by workers from northern industrial towns and cities.

She said: “Now, Ministers are proposing to turn back the clock and make trespass a criminal offence. Not only are they attacking the right to roam, but also the right for a whole community of people – the Gypsy Roma and Traveller Community – to live as they wish. Just as the trespassers of Kinder Scout were criminalised for accessing their basic right to enjoy nature, today the traveller community is criminalised for pursuing their right to live how they choose. If the Government were serious about addressing the issue of illegal encampments, they would increase funding for the number of legal sites – not pass new laws that attack an already persecuted community.

“We should look to extend our right to green spaces, not deter people from accessing our precious countryside – and neither should we criminalise those whose culture is based on the right to roam. As a Sheffield MP, I’m proud to stand on the shoulders of Ethel Haythornthwaite, the Sheffield Clarion Ramblers and the Kinder Scout trespassers in demanding what everyone should enjoy: as Ethel Haythornthwaite put it, ‘the peace, freedom, solitude and excitement’ that comes with ‘the escape into clean air’ and the ‘gradual return to nature’.”