Responsible Access
The first paragraph of the Scottish Outdoor Access Code (SOAC) spells out the very strong link between access rights and responsibilities. It says: "Scotland's outdoors, extending from the parks and open spaces in our towns to the remote and wild areas of land and water in the Highlands, provides great opportunities for open-air recreation and education. Open-air recreation provides people with great benefits for their health and well-being and contributes to the good of society in many other ways. Part 1 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 gives everyone statutory access rights to most land and inland water. People only have these rights if they exercise them responsibly by respecting people's privacy, safety and livelihoods, and Scotland's environment. Equally, land managers have to manage their land and water responsibly in relation to access rights."
The guidelines and links in this section of the SCA website are designed to provide paddlers with information that should enable us to carry out our activites responsibly and therefore within the letter and spirit of the law.
Also included in this section is an Access Incident Report Form. If you have been unfairly treated whilst out paddling, or been shouted at, or given misleading information, or maybe seen what you consider to be an illegal sign, then please report such incidents to the SCA so that we can try to resolve the issue and hopefully seek more responsible behaviour in the future.
Topics covered in this section include: