Cavers are calling for the government to extend the rights that allow access to mountains, moors, heaths and downs to the subterranean systems that lie beneath some of Britain's best-known landscapes.

The failure to include caves in the right to roam legislation introduced in 2000 means that it can take weeks for people to get the go-ahead to explore systems such as Gaping Gill in Yorkshire, because permission needs to be obtained from landowners