On BBC Radio 4’s ‘Farming Today’ programme on Thursday 5th March, a representative of the Open Spaces Society was interviewed about that organisation’s response to proposals by the Home Office, which would make trespass a criminal as opposed to civil offence (click here for further details). While the proposals are designed to protect communities from the nuisance caused by so-called ‘travellers’, who each summer cause misery with their encampments, the OSS fears that the legislation may be drafted in such as way as to make temporary and unintended forms of trespass, such as diverting from a footpath where it is flooded, a criminal offence. At this stage, the Home Office is ‘consulting’ on its proposals. (Jeff Vinter)