A £50 million push to encourage more people into the countryside was finally completed yesterday as land previously off limits to the public was opened in the West Midlands.

An extra 22,307 hectares of open country and registered common land are now open to ramblers in the region, the final part of the country to enjoy new freedoms under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act.

Rural Affairs Minister Jim Knight visited Cannock Chase in Staffordshire yesterday to mark the end of the Government's drive to open up more land to the public.

* What do you think? We want know - get in touch by email, messageboard or feedback form *

Parts of Cannock Chase previously inaccessible is included under the new Act, along with areas of the Stiperstones in Shropshire, the Dragon's Back hills in the Peak National Park and the Malvern Hills.

It means ramblers can now roam freely, without the need to keep to paths, on mapped areas of rugged landscape.

The new rights enable walkers to enjoy 6,250 square miles of mapped land, much of which was previously off limits.

The process, originally planned to cost several million pounds, had soared to £50 million but Mr Knight said the money spent on the mapping process was justifiable.

He said: "I think it is a really good investment, it did cost us more money than we initially budgeted for but it is an investment in perpetuity - the amount of access has increased four fold and we are also seeing more people such as the Forestry Commission voluntarily dedicating their land for access."

"We will see more people accessing the countryside and when they come out they will spend money and I hope people will also see where their food comes from and spend money on local food."

Mr Knight said it was too early to say whether areas opened up had enjoyed an increase in visitors.

"I am satisfied so far and we will be analysing what the affect of these new rights of way will have over the next few years."

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA), which represents landowners and land managers said there was no evidence the new Act would benefit the rural economy.

It said that if the Government wanted to consider future access provision, it should adopt a non-statutory approach, based on demand and not ideology.

CLA President Mark Hudson said: "Let me make it clear, the CLA and its members want visitors to the countryside. More visitors are vital to the rural economy in terms of tourism and also in connecting people from urban areas with food and farming.

"What we criticise is the way in which the Government has gone about delivering these new access rights through the Crow Act.

"In business, if you built a product for which there was little demand and then threw money into marketing campaigns trying to create demand, you wouldn't last very long.

"The more efficient and effective way is to create a product for which there is proven demand and then deliver that product by the most efficient means."

Annabel Armstrong, of Midland property consultants Strutt & Parker said there was a danger the public would misinterpret the new laws.

"The name reinforces an already widespread misapprehension among the general public that they now enjoy unfettered access to all parts of the countryside and are free to wander where and when they like. But that is simply not true," she said.

"What the Act does give walkers, and it is only walkers, not cyclists or horse-riders - is right of access to "open country", areas of land, defined by their topography, geology and the vegetation growing there."