Mass trespass staged in PM Andy Burnham's constituency

Campaigners have taken part in a mass trespass in Prime Minister Andy Burnham's Ashton-in-Makerfield constituency over the right to roam in privately-owned green spaces.

They walked on to the Winstanley Hall estate in Wigan as part of their calls for a change in the law to bring in a Scottish-style right to responsible access to land and water that is privately owned.

Right to Roam co-director Nadia Shaikh said they hoped the protest would get Burnham's attention.

A spokesperson for developer Kingswood Homes, who are proposing to build about 400 homes on the land, said their plans included making more than 18 acres (0.07 sq km) publicly accessible.

The protest involved dozens of people walking on public footpaths and then going through a gap in the metal fencing around the site to access the private land.

Shaikh said there was right to roam access over just 1% of Burnham's constituency and "so we are here to try and get his attention, and to talk about access in this way".

She said the site should not be fenced off and the thousands of residents living nearby should be able to access it to have "a lovely one-hour walk that will just give people that sense of being in nature and calm".

Shaikh said they wanted to see the right to roam enshrined in the law as it was in Scotland when the Land Reform Act came into effect in 2005.

The act gives members of the public a statutory right of responsible access to land and inland waters for recreation, crossing and for educational and commercial purposes.

Andrew Hobbins from Right to Roam North West said: "This land should be free to be enjoyed by the people regardless who owns it."

He said the group would be picking up litter during the protest.

Among residents attending the protest was Alan Brown, from Westhoughton, who said big housing developments ruined people's quality of life, while having access to open green spaces "makes your life worth living".

Grade II listed Winstanley Hall dates back to about 1573 and has lain derelict for about 40 years.

The building was bought by Kingswood Homes in 2025 and the developer has submitted plans to Wigan Council under which the hall's restoration would be financed by building new homes.

The housing development proposals put forward by Kingswood Homes, which include the restoration of the Tudor hall, have sparked opposition locally.

A spokesperson for Kingswood Homes said Winstanley Hall and the surrounding estate had always been privately owned and had never historically been open to the public, but they understood local interest in it.

They said: "Our ambition has always been not only to secure its long-term future, but to allow people to experience and enjoy an important part of Winstanley that, despite being on their doorstep, has historically been inaccessible to them."

More than 18 acres of land would be opened up for public access under their proposals, along with more than two miles of new footpaths and walks around the hall and its grounds and opportunities to access the hall, they said.

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