Three per cent of the countryside in the South East will be opened up to walkers under Right To Roam proposals unveiled today.

Patches of the South Downs plus some heathland and registered commons in East and West Sussex are included in the draft maps published by the Countryside Agency.

In addition to the existing rights of way network, the right to roam in the Downs would give walkers access to large areas of the northern scarp slope and isolated fragments elsewhere.

Rural affairs minister Alun Michael said publishing the maps was a "landmark day" and would bring big economic benefits to farmers and landowners.

He said: "It is small compared to the Peak District or Kinder Scout but if you take in the way it links up and extends the opportunities in the South East I think it is very significant."

It follows years of dispute between the "right to roam" lobby and farmers, who say walkers leave open gates and allow pet dogs to worry and kill livestock.

Mr Michael said: "I think there are some (farmers) who are obstructive and there are some who say 'I don't want anybody on my land, that's the beginning and the end of it'.

"But that is a medieval approach to access, and I think that most farmers have an increasing understanding, just as most walkers do, about their responsibilities."

The Countryside Agency said just over three per cent of the South East was identified as access land.

The South East is one of two pilot regions where access land under Right to Roam has been identified. The other is the North West.

Nigel Sloan, of Sussex Ramblers, said: "We welcome the continuation of this process.

"The publication of the maps is the first step. It is the start of a three-month consultation so over the next three months we have to look at what is there and what is not there."

The three-month consultation on the proposals starts today. The proposals are unlikely to come into force before 2005.

The draft maps showing proposed access land are chiefly available for inspection in libraries and on the internet.

Farmers and landowners have until the end of February to object if they feel their property has been wrongly included.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA), representing farmers and landowners, has complained that the mapping consultation is unfair.

It says its members could be landed with extra costs and that many farmers do not have internet connections or easy access to public libraries.