Angry landowners are planning a disobedience campaign in retaliation against the ban on fox hunting and impending 'right to roam' legislation, it was claimed last night.

The Countryside Alliance says access permission for Government or amenity activities - laying or maintaining pipelines and cables, road improvements or setting telecom masts - could become a political weapon.

They claim the move is a response to increasing Government "interference" in rural life. With anger mounting over the hunting ban, some farmers and estate managers are already in talks with field sports activists for a campaign designed to bring the countryside to a virtual standstill.

There is even talk of the Armed Forces being denied access to sizeable tracts of Northumberland and the Scottish Borders, where they have traditionally trained for decades thanks to the goodwill of the landlords.

As well as the hunting row, landowners say they face the prospect of walkers in the North-East being given the green light to roam

across their land from next May.

Richard Dodd, regional director of the Countryside Alliance, said last night: "Rights are being given to those who don't own the land while we are no longer allowed to hunt on it. It's a disgrace.

"I think we can expect to see increasing non-cooperation from landowners towards Government agencies until this wrong is righted."

One North-East farmer, who asked not to be named, last night said his gates would be firmly closed to the Government and its "minions", even though he wasn't a hunt supporter.

He said: "This has now gone beyond fox-hunting It's about the countryside as a whole, and how our freedoms are being eroded by this Government.

"I certainly will not be co-operating until we in the rural community get equal treatment to the rest of British society."

A spokeswoman for Defra said: "When we took the hunting legislation through, we sought a consensus. We would hope such action is avoided, as we believe it wouldn't serve anyone's best interests if we didn't work together."

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 will allow most open-air recreational activities carried out on foot, such as sightseeing, bird-watching, climbing and running, and means people won't have to stick to paths. It is due to come into force in the North-East next summer but a raft of appeals and boundary tribunals have to be heard by then.

Mr Dodd, who farms at Belsay in Northumberland, said members of his organisation were tired of having their own rights and liberties trampled underfoot, and that a backlash was now inevitable.

He said: "At the end of the day, we have the land but what we are seeing are more rights being given to those who don't.

"There is already talk that the Ministry of Defence might no longer be allowed to use land if certain landowners decide to withdraw their support.

"Where there has previously been an enormous amount of goodwill with the Armed Forces, anything connected to the Government is now a target."

But another North farmer, who also requested anonymity, said the non-co-operation stance was a dangerous one.

He said: "I don't want to be tarred with the same brush as a small minority of hunters, but it is beginning to annoy some of us that we are being heaped in with them, just because we live in the countryside."

Veteran anti-hunting campaigner Hazel Jordan, who lives near the Otterburn military ranges, added: "It seems to be driven by sheer spite, and it won't do anyone any good.

"Targeting the Army, which has nothing to do with Government policy on fox-hunting, is little more than blackmail."

Page 2: Minister's right to roam is curtailed