A crowd of around 30 walkers protested on the boundary of Nicholas Van Hoogstraten's private estate in East Sussex on Wednesday.

The Ramblers' Association has been campaigning for ten years against Mr Van Hoogstraten, who last month described them as "scum".

Mr Van Hoogstraten: Ramblers "are scum"

He has blocked access to a public footpath with a nine-foot high fence.

Last month the Ramblers' Association decided to take legal action against him after the local authority said it could not afford to take him to court.

'Let us walk'

Local members contacted Mr Van Hoogstraten to ask him to unlock the gate used to block the footpath but he has failed to do so.

A Sussex police spokesman said Wednesday's protest passed off peacefully with no arrests or breaches of the peace.

Last month, Mr Van Hoogstraten told the BBC the ramblers were "the scum of the earth" and had no right of way across his land.

The Labour MP Andrew Bennett is calling on the government to act and provide a statutory right of way for walkers. Mr Bennett, who is president of the Ramblers' Association and joint chairman of the Commons environment select committee, told BBC News Online he does not want Mr Van Hoogstraten to set a precedent.

Andrew Bennett: "This abuse must stop"

Obviously if one landowner is to be allowed to break the law and close footpaths which are registered rights of way, the others will follow," he said.

"The whole aim of the both the Ramblers' Association and myself is to see this abuse is stopped, that landowners do not break the law by closing rights of way, that councils enforce the law an in an increasingly crowded island, people can get out into the country to enjoy peace of mind to look at flowers and wildlife."

Flexible approach

The Environment Minister Michael Meacher is looking at a "flexible" approach to opening up thousands of acres of countryside to ramblers.

A keen walker, Mr Meacher told a Countryside Commission conference in London last month he was examining a mix of voluntary and legally binding deals to resolve the problem.

The government has published a consultation paper called The Right to Roam following its manifesto pledge to give people more freedom to explore the UK countryside.

But landowners are complaining that allowing more rights of way will lead to expensive security measures to protect livestock from dogs. Ramblers argue that voluntary arrangements with farmers have never worked in the past.

The Country Landowners' Association is strongly opposed to any new law, saying it would lead to the biggest erosion of its members' rights this century. It says voluntary agreements are adequate and has published a handbook for landowners to "review and improve access on their land".