Ramblers Association Rochford & Castle Point Group

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 Part I Part II: Rights of Way & Traffic Regulation Part III: Nature Conservation & Wildlife Part IV: Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty Act 2000 Part I The Act will give the public a statutory right of access for open-air recreation to mountain, moor, heath, down and registered common land. This will come into force only once maps of these areas have been drawn up by the Countryside Agency and Countryside Council for Wales. The mapping is expected to take three to four years to complete. Land over 600 metres above sea level and registered common land may become available to the public more quickly since these can already be identified on maps. Cultivated land, land consisting of improved or semi-improved grassland, golf courses, racecourses, railways, buildings and land within 20 metres of a dwelling are specifically excluded from the right of access. It also includes a power to extend the right to coastal land by order once environmental assessments have been carried out. Landowners may voluntarily dedicate any land to public access permanently under the Act. The Ramblers' Association hopes that owners of types of land to which the new right of access will not apply (such as woodland and riverside) will take the opportunity to encourage greater public access to these areas. People will have a right of entry on to access land provided they do not break any of the restrictions which are listed. These restrict activities and behaviour which are not compatible with the quiet exercise of the right. Use of any vehicle (including bicycles), craft (on water) and horse-riding are specifically excluded. People on access land must not light fires, damage plants, animals or property, feed livestock or bathe in water. Dogs are required to be kept on leads during the period from 1 March to 31 July and in the vicinity of livestock. They may be banned altogether from areas where grouse breed and where lambing takes place. People who break these restrictions will lose their right of access for 72 hours and will be treated as trespassers. Occupiers' liability to those exercising the new right will be on the same level as that which would be owed to trespassers - but there will be no liability in respect of natural features of the landscape, rivers, streams, ditches or ponds or for injuries caused by improper use of walls, fences or gates. It will be an offence to display a notice which is likely to deter the exercise of the new right. Local authorities will have new powers to make bye-laws to prevent damage to the land, to appoint wardens and to erect notices on access land. They will also be required to set up Local Countryside Access Forums to include representatives of local user, landowner and conservation groups to advise on the implementation of the Act locally. The Countryside bodies will provide codes of conduct for both users and landowners including updating the Country Code. They will also be required to ensure that the public are properly informed about their new rights and how to enjoy them responsibly. Landowners may exclude or restrict access for any reason for up to 28 days a year without seeking permission (although closures at weekends are to be limited). Landowners will be able to seek further exclusions or restrictions on access on grounds of nature and heritage conservation, fire prevention, to avoid danger to the public and for land management reasons. The Countryside Agency, the Countryside Council for Wales and, in national parks, the National Park authorities will be required to approve such exclusions and restrictions. Highway Authorities or National Park authorities will be allowed to seek agreement with landowners for the creation or safeguarding of means of access or in default of agreement, to secure the means of access by carrying out any necessary works themselves. Bodies charged with the enforcement of the statutory right of access will have the power to enter land in order to carry out their functions.   BACK TO TOP

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 Part II: Rights of way and traffic regulation Throughout the passage of the Bill through Parliament, and in the consultation exercises which preceded it, we have lobbied vigorously to ensure the legislation would benefit users of rights of way. Our efforts before the Bill was published undoubtedly shaped its form and in Parliament, with the help of many MPs and peers, we have achieved small but useful changes to its provisions. The most significant aspects of Part II can be summarised as follows: Automatic reclassification of all Roads Used as Public Paths (RUPPs) as restricted byways. The Ramblers' Association has welcomed this provision because it will relieve councils of the onerous, time-consuming and expensive duty of researching and reclassifying every route presently shown on the definitive map as a RUPP. (RUPPs are an obscure class of right of way which may, or may not carry full-vehicular rights. At present authorities are obliged to investigate each one individually and to reclassify it as either a footpath, bridleway or byway open to all traffic (BOAT) according to the rights which exist over it). On restricted byways there will be a right of way on foot, or horseback, and for vehicles other than those which are mechanically propelled. However, higher rights will not be extinguished and it will still be open for those with suitable evidence to seek to have a restricted byway upgraded to a BOAT. Extinguishment of unrecorded rights of way ("capping" the definitive map). We were greatly alarmed by the original government proposal that, after a period of ten years from the commencement of new legislation, definitive maps should be closed to claims based solely on pre-1949 historic evidence. The proposal flew in the face of the legal maxim "once a highway, always a highway" and was likely to provoke a large a very large number of claims to further exacerbate the backlog of applications waiting to be dealt with by councils. This would do little to ease the uncertainty for users and landowners for many years to come. The government listened to those concerns and the 25-year period specified in the Bill represents a more realistic time period in which to carry out the complex and painstaking work of researching and recording public rights of way. However, the overwhelming problem will be one of resources. Local authorities have already had in the region of 50 years to carry out this work and quite clearly the reason that they have failed to complete it is lack of adequate funding. We are therefore continuing to argue that adequate funding must be made available to make sure that it is a job well done - an accurate and complete definitive map is in everyone's interest. Creation, stopping-up and diversion of highways. The Act will introduce a number of new provisions relating to the closure, stopping-up and diversion of highways. For the first time, there will be a right for owners or occupiers of land used for agriculture, forestry and the breeding and keeping of horses to apply for orders to close or divert paths across that land. (At present it is only possible to make an informal request for such an order to the local authority.) There is a major new provision which will allow for the closure or diversion of paths for the purposes of crime prevention, and to close or divert paths across school grounds for the purposes of protecting pupils and staff from violence and harassment. Orders to close or divert paths for the purposes of crime prevention will only be available in areas designated by the Secretary of State. It will also be possible for diversion orders to be made to prevent damage to SSSIs. Stringent tests must be applied before these orders can be made or confirmed. This should prevent their misuse but nevertheless we shall be monitoring their application very carefully. Rights of way improvement plans The Act will require local highway authorities to produce rights of way improvement plans. The plans must include an assessment of the extent to which local rights of way meet the present and likely future needs of the public, the opportunities which local rights of way provide for open-air recreation, and the accessibility of local rights of way to blind or partially-sighted people and others with mobility problems. They will also contain a statement of the action the authority proposes to take for the management of local rights of way, and for securing an improved network of local rights of way. We have welcomed the prospect of these plans which should allow for the identification of missing links, dangerous road crossings, etc. and allow action to be taken to deal with them. Removal of obstructions from highways The Act's provisions in this respect are very welcome. Firstly, they will enable any member of the public to serve a notice on a local highway authority requesting that it takes action to remove certain types of obstruction from public rights of way, with a follow-up enforcement procedure in the magistrates court; and secondly, in cases where a successful prosecution for obstruction is achieved, magistrates will be able to order the removal of the obstruction. The provision will only allow for notice to be served in respect of certain classes of obstruction. Unfortunately, it doesn't cover disturbance of the surface of a path (eg ploughing) and crops being grown on the line of a path. However the Government did agree to a Ramblers-initiated amendment to the Highways Act 1980 which will remove the restriction on who can prosecute for ploughing offences. This will accord with the Government's intention of empowering the public by allowing individuals and organisations such as the Ramblers to take action themselves, rather than waiting for the highway authority to take action. It has long been a matter of intense frustration to user groups and private individuals that magistrates have no power to order the removal of an obstruction. The van Hoogstraten case is a perfect example of this. The company owning the land in question was found guilty and fined £800 on each of two charges of obstruction and was ordered to pay £3,500 in costs to the RA which had brought the case. However, the court could do nothing about the on-going obstructions which remain in place. The Act will solve this kind of problem. It will enable a magistrates' court, on conviction of a person for wilful obstruction of the highway (section 137 of the Highways Act 1980), to order that person to remove the obstruction. This may be additional to, or instead of, a fine. Failure to comply with a magistrates' court order to remove an obstruction, without reasonable excuse, will be an offence punishable by a fine of up to £5,000, and additional fines may be levied for each day on which the offence continues after conviction. Traffic regulation orders; driving mechanically propelled vehicles elsewhere than on a road. As a result of pressure from the Ramblers and others the Government has taken the opportunity to tighten the law. Section 34 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 makes it an offence for motor vehicles to be driven on footpaths and bridleways. However, last year, eight motorcyclists who were prosecuted for riding on a track in Derbyshire (Grimsall Lane) which is marked as a bridleway on the definitive map were acquitted. This is because, in the 1988 Act, a bridleway is defined as "a way over which the public have the following, but no other, rights of way: a right of way on foot and a right of way on horseback …" Although the magistrate did not feel able to hold that the prosecution had proved that there were "no other" (i.e. vehicular) rights, he did not hold that Grimsall Lane does carry vehicular rights. On the contrary, he said that the status of the lane was unaffected by his decision. The Government's amendment to the Road Traffic Act should go some considerable way towards preventing similar situations arising in the future. It will also be possible for local authorities to make traffic regulation orders for the purposes of conserving natural beauty. Persons with mobility problems We are pleased to see that under the provisions of the Act local authorities will be required to take into account the needs of those with mobility problems when considering the erection of stiles and gates. As can be seen, Part II of the Act presents many opportunities for improving the footpath network but it also presents many challenges. It will be for all of those with a stake in the rights of way network - government at both national and local level, the countryside agencies, landowners and users to work together to make sure that it does deliver the properly recorded and freely usable rights of way network to which it aspires. (NB: Most of the substantive provisions of Part II of the Bill will only come into operation following the making of a separate Order or Orders by the Secretary of State - this is because most of them will require Regulations which have yet to be written. But the provision under which magistrates will be able to order the removal of an obstruction will come into operation two months after Royal Assent.)   BACK TO TOP

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 Part III Nature conservation and wildlife Much of this part of the Act deals with sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs), Ramsar sites (wetland areas) and the enforcement of wildlife legislation. Generally, the protection for these areas, and for wildlife, has been strengthened. In particular the Act ensures that these sites will be put under positive management and puts a duty of care on all public bodies who own, manage or affect SSSIs. All government departments also have to play their part in biodiversity conservation. Jail sentences of up to six months and fines of up to £5,000 have been introduced for many wildlife offences. The deliberate release of non-native and certain other species could result in prison sentences of up to two years. BACK TO TOP     The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 Part IV Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) The Act sets out the process by which areas might be designated as AONBs. This includes the points at which consultation is carried out. It goes on to relate which bits of the 1949 Act (National Parks and Access to the Countryside) which previously only related to National Parks, would now also apply to AONBs. These include consultation in connection with development plans, access orders and access agreements. For existing AONBs, the Act allows the Secretary of State to order the establishment of a conservation board, following consultation with the local authorities in which the AONB lies, and the Countryside Agency. A conservation board would have the responsibility of carrying out functions with regard to the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty of the AONB, and increasing the understanding and enjoyment by the public of the area. The conservation board would also need to foster the economic and social well-being of local communities within the AONB. Management plans must be written for AONBs under the Act. These should be prepared by the conservation board (where there is one) or by the relevant local authority. The plan must formulate policy for the management of the area and must set out the functions of the board or local authority in relation to the plan. If an AONB already has such a management plan, then this may be used, as long as it covers the specifications set out in the Act. BACK TO TOP THE ACT IN FULL

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