Information for landowners

These pages will help you understand your rights, responsibilities and liabilities when it comes to public access and rights of way on your land.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority is the local access authority. In relation to land outside national parks, the access authority is the local highway authority in whose area the land is situated.

Access authorities have a statutory duty to set up Local Access Forums for their areas. They also have a range of powers to enable and manage access in their areas. These powers are to:

• make byelaws on Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act access land in relation to public order, the prevention of damage to the land, or anything on or in it, and to control walkers' behaviour while they are on the land

• appoint wardens, and

• erect and maintain notices indicating the boundaries of CRoW access land, as well as any local restrictions to the right of access or national restrictions set out at Schedule 2 to the Act (for instance, excluding camping from the right of access) and any other issues which the access authority feels are appropriate.