Nicola Addyman Producer The Politics Show, BBC Yorkshire and Lincolnshire

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Dick Constable: Canoeists have no right to roam

Canoeists claim that only 2% of rivers in Wales and England are open to the public. They want the 'right to roam' legislation broadened to include rivers.

It was below zero in the village of West Tanfield in North Yorkshire when we caught up with the White Rose canoe club enjoying their sport on the River Ure.

These sportsmen and women are obviously pretty intrepid types - so why were they to be found clambering out of the river just a mile upstream?

Well, the simple answer is that if they went any further they would be breaking the law.

Canoeists, unlike ramblers, have no right to roam.

They rely on limited access agreements with landowners, and on the day we met up with them this is as far as they could go.

Dick Constable is their president and it can be very frustrating:

"To go any further (today), we would have to knock on every door between here and Ripon and ask for permission to go further.

"Basically, it has either been denied to us historically, or we do not know which doors to knock on."

There are 2.5m canoeists in Britain.

In Scotland, they have the same rights as walkers, but in England and Wales they only have access to 2% of waterways.

Now, 67 MPs have signed an early day motion calling for the historic right to roam to be extended to our floating friends.

The motion was proposed by the Labour MP for Selby, John Grogan:

John Grogan: the government needs to change its mind

"If we had relied on voluntary access for the right to roam across the countryside it would never have happened.

"We are looking forward to the Olympics in a few years' time and we have got to look at sports we can win gold medals in.

"Canoeing is one of them. For that reason alone the government needs to change its mind."

The canoeists are drawing heart from the ramblers.

Protests stretching back to the famous 1932 mass trespass in the Peak District eventually resulted in the 2000 Countryside And Rights Of Way Act.

Martin Reid: Rights would be a disaster for anglers

But not everyone's wishing the canoeists the best of luck.

Martin Reid is an angler, who we met enjoying the peace and quiet of the River Don in South Yorkshire.

He says a right to roam for canoeists would be a disaster for anglers: "I fished on the River Trent a few weeks ago.

"The water was beautifully clear. Then 15 canoes came down the river and totally destroyed the peace and quiet of the countryside."

So the White Rose canoeists may now have the support of many backbench MPs, but there are no signs of ministers granting them their own right to roam.

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