Re:
I favour a system of permit based access, environmentally sensitive/wilderness areas need protection. Probably voluntary. Sounds like that would have no teeth, but in reality you give responsible people the chance to seek permission, and then give them access to keys, parking and any other facilities. You give them a chance to take ownership of their land use. Freedom to roam should be the default presumption for all land, and a permit system would flag up where access was being routinely inhibited.
We were stopped by a green around the gills estate worker recently whilst driving up a track that leads over to my cousin's farm. He was trying to tell us we are not permitted to use the 'estate road', to which I politely pointed out it was actually an old public road that fell into disuse and the gates that had been installed are actually illegal. (Everyone in the know drives round the back of some trees to get onto the 'track'.)
Practically every track and road anywhere near a town is getting fenced and gated these days, often illegally. The problem is that no one really organises against this move to keep ordinary Joe and his family off the land.
I have long held the view that estates and forestry organisations should be compelled to provide information to the public as to how to best access their areas of responsibility, to encourage recreational use of the land in other words. So many times I have had run ins with belligerent estate managers and workers acting as though they are protecting a gold mine or something. Especially new arrivals who have bought estates thinking they were getting thousands of acres of 'private' land, only to find to their extreme disappointment that Joe Public has as much right to walk through that land as they themselves.
The experience of being woken in our tents in the middle of the night by young men carrying guns is not one we should have in this country.
So my plan would be to give the various NGOs that campaign for access some powers to force unwilling land 'owners' to comply with a presumption of access, via some enhanced legislation.
Make any exclusions formal and time limited, that is make land 'owners' apply to keep people out, and require them to justify any exclusion on an ongoing basis.
As for us, stick to the paths and take our rubbish away with us. It is not rocket science. If you are venturing onto land that is not commonly used, let someone know you are there or planning to be there. It is only polite, whether you need to or not.
, although I haven't ridden across one, nae tanks though, irresponsibly 
