The emphasis of Part 1 of the Act is on the management of access at a local level and as such it provides local authorities and National Park authorities ("access authorities") with adequate powers to manage access in their area.
The main duties placed on access authorities under the Act are summarised as follows:
- To uphold the exercise of access rights over any route, waterway or other means by which access rights may be exercised
- To plan for a system of core paths
- To establish one or more local access forums for their area
- The Act also provides for access authorities to appoint persons to act as rangers
- To publish the Scottish Outdoor Access Code drawn up by Scottish Natural Heritage, setting out guidance on the rights and responsibilities of access takers and owners of land.
See the Monitoring Progress section to find out how the 'access authorities' are progressing