RAMBLERS will be blazing a trail in Kirklees when countryside is opened up to the public for the first time.

Land in Kirklees, Calderdale, Derbyshire and Lancashire that was previously off limits is to be opened up to the public from Sunday September 19.

All of the large heather moorlands near Huddersfield including Castleshaw Moor, Rishworth Moor and the moors round Black Hill will be included.

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 also affects the whole country and forces landowners to allow ramblers access to ground that was previously barred to visitors.

The legislation is having a huge impact on certain areas, with the range of public access land in Derbyshire increased from 35% to 72%.

Keith Wadd, regional spokesman for the Ramblers Association said: "We are absolutely delighted.

This is the culmination of more than 100 years' campaigning.

"As far back as 1884 there was an access bill before Parliament.

"There were several mass rallies, particularly in the Peak District in the 1930s, the most famous being the Kinder Trespass in April 1932."

The past four years since the legislation was passed has been spent in major wrangles between landowners and the Countryside Agency.

But new routes have finally been thrashed out.

Only two parts of the country will be fully Ordnance Survey mapped by the September deadline because of the enormous amount of work involved.

Steve Erskine, Ordnance Survey products director, said: "We are working as fast as we can to revise all the Explorer maps in the two regions.

"Our aim is to have them completed by the day the new rights come into force."