Landowners’ Liability? Is perception of the risk of liability for visitor accidents a barrier to countryside access?

A number of studies have been commissioned by various public agencies and interest groups across the UK in recent years to interpret (and then publicise) what the level of liability risk actually is in their jurisdiction in relation to landowner liability for visitor safety in the countryside (for example SNH (2005); VSCG (2005); DOENI (2007)). Such analyses have provided legal opinions on what the law actually requires, based upon evaluation of existing legislation and case law. These studies have characterised landowner liability risk as low. However studies such as SNH (2005) and DOENI (2007) have also noted that landowner perception of the level of liability risk appears, for some reason, to be over-stated.