Published by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation on 30 October 2026, the announcement sets out a joint MOD and Trail Riders Fellowship campaign on safe access to Salisbury Plain Training Area. The material sits under Respect the Range and uses short videos to explain three linked issues: the estate's military function, the public safety regime that applies during training, and the environmental damage that follows from irresponsible access. (gov.uk) In policy terms, the announcement is not a new access offer. It is a compliance campaign built around an existing rulebook, using a recognised user body to restate how parts of the estate may be used without cutting across operations, safety controls or conservation duties. (gov.uk)
The policy context is the scale and role of the training area. GOV.UK describes SPTA as just over 38,000 hectares, while the public information leaflet describes more than 94,000 acres and identifies it as the UK's largest military training area, supporting live firing and training for armoured vehicles, artillery, engineers, infantry and aircraft. Regular forces, reserves, cadets and NATO allies all use the estate. (gov.uk) That operational intensity explains the MOD's emphasis on interruption. In the department's statement, Lt Col Jamie Powell says training on Salisbury Plain can be planned many months in advance and that disruption creates delay, extra cost and the risk of essential training being missed. The collaboration with TRF is therefore framed as a readiness measure as well as a visitor information exercise. (gov.uk)
Access is governed by a layered regime rather than a single instruction. The wider GOV.UK guidance says all green space on Salisbury Plain is subject to the Salisbury Plain Military Lands Byelaws 1981, while Bulford, Larkhill and Imber are also covered by separate range byelaws. The public information leaflet adds that recreation is regulated by military byelaws and that an extensive network of public rights of way provides access across around 68,600 acres of the estate. (gov.uk) The central safety rule is straightforward. When live firing or major exercises are taking place, red flags by day and red lights by night mean access is prohibited, and public rights of way in range danger areas close when those signals are displayed. The current firing notice also says visitors should treat published timings as a guide and rely on on-site warnings because activity can change at short notice. (gov.uk)
For trail riders, the collaboration is aimed at a narrower access question: where motorised use is lawful and how it should be carried out. The MOD's green-laning guide says motor vehicle use is limited to byways open to all traffic, unclassified and classified roads, and permissive MOD roads where access has not been closed by sign, barrier or other restriction. It also says vehicles must be road-legal and users must keep to the defined track. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk) In the department's framing, TRF is there to show how parts of the estate can be used responsibly. That fits the existing green-laning guide, which tells riders to give way to military vehicles and personnel, as well as to walkers, horse riders and cyclists, and to avoid routes that may be damaged by weather or vehicle weight. (gov.uk)
Environmental stewardship is the other side of the announcement. GOV.UK says Salisbury Plain contains the largest area of chalk grassland in north-west Europe and around 40 per cent of the UK's remaining habitat of that kind; around 20,000 hectares are designated as SSSI, Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area. The estate also contains around 2,300 archaeological sites. (gov.uk) Those designations explain why access rules go beyond personal safety. The byelaws prohibit damage to grass, shrubs, trees and wildflowers, ban the taking of nests and eggs, restrict fires, camping and littering, and bar the removal of projectiles or other objects found on the land. The department's announcement ties those restrictions directly to habitat protection, warning that irresponsible use can cause lasting harm to flora and fauna. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)
Enforcement powers are explicit. The byelaws provide for authorised personnel to warn people off the land, remove them from the estate if they are committing an offence, and require animals or vehicles to be taken away. The same text states that breaches of the relevant byelaws are offences, with penalties set by section 17 of the Military Lands Act 1892. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk) The practical message across the campaign, the access guidance and the firing notices is consistent. Visitors are expected to check the latest range information before travel, follow local signs and red flags, remain on routes open to the form of access being used, keep dogs under control and avoid touching military debris. The TRF collaboration does not widen public access to Salisbury Plain; it restates that continued access depends on compliance with operational, safety and environmental rules already in force. (gov.uk)