Rights of Way - A Big Step Forward

25 Mar 2010 03:30 PM

Representatives of the key national interests in public rights of way united today in delivering a ground-breaking set of recommendations to Government designed to improve the law and procedures concerning old public rights of way.

The Group’s report - Stepping Forward - is a blueprint for wide-ranging change that would deliver real benefits for the general public, landowners, farmers and local authorities alike.

Old rights of way have long been one of the most difficult areas of access legislation. At present, many old rights of way such as footpaths and bridleways are not recorded on the official ‘definitive map’ held by county councils. The result is a lack of clarity for the public about which routes they can use, plus periodic concerns for landowners when claims to record such routes suddenly arise.

To look for solutions, Natural England - with the approval of government - convened a special working group at the end of 2008, with balanced representation from the main interest groups in public rights of way. The result is today’s report which has achieved unexpected consensus among all of the Group’s 15 members.

Squarely in the Group’s sights is the bureaucracy of the existing procedures for recording pre-1949 rights of way. The Group identifies a range of ways to make the procedures simpler, quicker, more flexible, and more cost effective. It also suggests measures to make them less adversarial and more constructive, with new scope for authorities to agree practical solutions with occupiers where old routes conflict with modern land use.

The Group has also recommended retaining the 2026 “cut-off” date contained in current legislation whereby pre-1949 routes that have not been recorded by 2026 will be extinguished. Fixing a date will deliver greater certainty in the future about where public rights exist, while the Group’s detailed recommendations will help ensure that the process to record or otherwise protect useful or potentially useful routes can be completed ahead of the 2026 deadline.

Natural England has forwarded the Group’s 32 unanimous recommendations to Government, which will now consider its findings.

Poul Christensen, Chair of Natural England, said: “Rights of way are a vital means by which people can enjoy our beautiful countryside and engage with nature, farming and their local heritage. Through this remarkable consensus, the Group has shown how these benefits can be secured for future generations while removing much of the uncertainty, bureaucracy and cost currently involved in the recording process – and promoting practical solutions to potential conflicts. The Group’s Stepping Forward report is a triumph of pragmatism, fairness and commonsense and we commend it to Government unreservedly”

Copies of the Stepping Forward report can be downloaded via the Natural England website at http://naturalengland.etraderstores.com/NaturalEnglandShop/NECR035

Notes to Editors:

Stakeholder Working Group Members The Stakeholder Working Group involved representatives of the key national interests in public rights of way. The 15 members of the Group are as follows:

Ray Anderson

Chair Ray is a recently retired civil servant whose career was centred on MAFF and Defra. Most recently he sought to link policy to delivery for the Single Payment Scheme, following the problems experienced in delivering payments for the 2005 scheme year to farmers in England. He was previously responsible for the Whole Farm Approach, an innovative on-line system to help farmers develop the sustainability of their businesses. He chaired an independent stakeholder group on the agricultural management of commons which reported in 2003, leading to the commons legislation of 2006.

Andrea Graham

After 18 years working in scientific research for the horticultural and agriculture industry, Andrea joined the National Farmers Union three years ago as their Countryside Adviser. This role involves providing national policy advice to the NFU on many key countryside issues including agri-environment schemes, wildlife and biodiversity, the historical landscape as well as access and rights of way. One of the main tasks has been to take the National Farmers’ Union lead on representing the views of members on the provisions for improved coastal access under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.

Alasdair Mitchell

Alasdair is a farmer, freelance journalist and director of a marketing firm. A member of Northumberland National Park Authority, he has an avid interest in countryside issues, with particular concerns about the impact of access policy on rural residents and protected landscapes. He is a member of a variety of bodies, including the Soil Association and the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, and has also served on his local access forum.

Sarah Slade

Sarah is a Chartered Surveyor and farming landowner, with a particular interest in planning and rights of way issues. For the last ten years she has worked for the Country Land and Business Association, covering the south west as Regional Surveyor and dealing with a variety of issues, including planning, compulsory purchase, agricultural schemes and management, conservation, diversification, and access and public rights of way. Whilst working as Regional Surveyor she also took on the role of National Dairy and Bovine TB Adviser at the Country Land and Business Association. In 2007 she became the Country Land and Business Association's National Access Adviser, and has recently returned to the role following the birth of her fourth child. Rights of way and access to the countryside have always been important issues for land managers, whether it be the management of the public themselves, or managing land to accommodate existing rights of way. She is a member of the Devon Countryside Access Forum.

Susan Steer

Susan is a rural chartered surveyor and land agent and runs her own business, Steer Ethelston Rural Ltd. specializing in matters relating to rural property, operating nationally and based in Cheshire on the family organic farm. She is the chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Countryside Policy Panel. This panel is the Institution’s rural policy committee providing professional recommendations, in the public interest, to rural policy makers. Susan and her panel have recently been actively involved in the coastal access proposals of the Marine Bill. Susan was one of the first three ladies to be admitted to The Royal Agricultural College to read Rural Estate Management in 1979. Her career started with the Land and Water Service of the Ministry of Agriculture and after a spell with a firm of land agents in Cheshire she joined Manchester Airport where she was involved in the £200 million second runway scheme.

Gwyn Williams

Gwyn is currently Head of Reserves and Protected Areas for Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, responsible for co-ordinating the Society’s land acquisition and reserve management work, and planning casework – conserving Natura 2000 sites and SSSIs from damaging development. He has worked a variety of roles for RSPB since 1979, but has led on access policy for the Society for most of this time. He has contributed to several Defra and Agency working groups as diverse as the Defra Lead in Gunshot Working Group, the CA National Countryside Access Forum, Defra Integrated Agency Stakeholder Group, Defra Flood Management Stakeholder Group, UK SPA and Ramsar Scientific Working Group, as well as leading RSPB input to several Bills (CROW 2000, NERC 2006, Common Land 2006, and the coastal access elements of the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009).

Kate Ashbrook

Kate has been general secretary of the Open Spaces Society since 1984, and has campaigned for public paths and rights of public access for more than 30 years. She is a trustee of the Ramblers and the Campaign for National Parks, a member of the Institute of Public Rights of Way and Access Management, president of the Dartmoor Preservation Association and patron of the Walkers Are Welcome Towns Network. She was a member of the Countryside Agency board for its whole existence (1999-2006). In 2002 she won in the Court of Appeal against East Sussex County Council’s failure to reopen the ‘Hoogstraten’ footpath.

Janet Davis

Janet has worked for the Ramblers for over 25 years, having first been appointed to monitor the working of Part III the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and as secretary to the Rights of Way Review Committee. She has worked in rights of way policy and law throughout her time at the Ramblers and has particular experience of working on Bills during their parliamentary progress (Part II of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000; the Rights of Way Act 1990, the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005, and the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006). Janet works closely with the Ramblers legal advisors on bringing legal action in the name of the RA, and is the editor of ‘Footpath Worker’ (the Ramblers specialist bulletin on legal aspects of rights of way). Janet enjoys walking and has personally tackled a number of National Trails including the Pennine Way.

Robert Halstead

As a chartered surveyor in private practice in West Yorkshire, Robert specialises in planning, development and rights of way, with previous experience in public and private sector land management. He is also involved in rights of way applications and public inquiries. Active in rights of way as both a regular off-road cyclist and as a trustee of the South Pennine Packhorse Trails Trust, Robert also rides both classic and modern motorcycles on a regular basis and also acts as a voluntary respondent for the Land Access and Recreation Association. He is also a member of the Cyclists Touring Club, Trail Riders Fellowship, Scott Owners Club and Vintage Motor Cycle Club.

Alan Kind

Alan first had his interest in ancient highways sparked when his father took him to see part of a ‘Roman road’ on the moors near Harrogate approaching fifty years ago. Work as a volunteer from the late 1970s evolved into a professional relationship with various organisations and individuals, including the Byways and Bridleways Trust and Land Access and Recreation Association. Alan’s particular current interests are surfacing and repair, disabled access, stock control barriers, and the ‘downgrading tests’ in definitive map modification orders, and he has over 25 years experience in research, making applications, and appearing at public inquiries.

Mark Weston

Mark qualified as a solicitor in 1988 and worked in local government for 18 years advising councils on planning, highway, and rights of way issues, appearing as the council’s advocate at court and at public inquiries. He took up his position as Director of Access, Safety and Welfare with The British Horse Society in 2005, and advises the Society on all equestrian access issues. He represents the Society on the Rights of Way Review Committee and the Equestrian Access Forum. Mark is a Director of the British Horse Industry Confederation and a member of the Shropshire Local Access Forum. He is a keen rider and horse owner. Richard Gething Richard is a parish councillor living in rural Herefordshire and has been chairman of the Herefordshire Local Access Forum since its inception in 2003. He currently represents the National Association of Local Councils on the Rights of Way Review Committee. He contributed to one of the Pathfinder Projects as part of Natural England’s review of Discovering Lost Ways and was a member of its Advisory Group. He has experience of committee work and particularly in achieving workable solutions to complex issues.

Alex Lewis

Alex Lewis is a qualified, but currently non-practising, solicitor who joined Hampshire County Council’s rights of way section in 1994 after 12 years in private practice dealing with various aspects of property law. She has had over 15 years experience in dealing with definitive map issues and public path orders. Alex has represented the Institute of Public Rights of Way and Access Management Limited (IPROW) on the Rights of Way Review Committee and is on the Editorial Board of the Rights of Way Law Review, for whom she also writes articles, and lectures.

Rosalinde Shaw

Rosalinde worked as a Land Surveyor for 8 years before joining the rights of way service of Hertfordshire County Council in 1994, where she is now the definitive map team leader. She has a thorough understanding of definitive map processes gained over the last 15 years, and contributed to the early development of the national Good Practice Guide. She is the Local Government Association’s representative on the Rights of Way Review Committee. As a regular user of rights of way, she understands the importance of access, the frustrations of an incomplete network, and the problems that are faced by landowners.

John Thorp

John has long experience of public rights of way in urban areas working at both Knowsley and Sefton Metropolitan Borough Councils, and as public rights of way officer at Warrington Borough Council since 1999. He has represented the Association of Metropolitan District Engineers rights of way group, Merseyside area, at their northern region meetings. John has experienced the challenge of trying to establish regional and local trails including part of the Trans Pennine Trail "on the ground". In addition to being responsible for the definitive map at Sefton and Warrington he has worked in the voluntary sector researching and applying for definitive map modification orders on behalf of the Trail Riders’ Fellowship, dating back to 2002 – none of which to date have been processed.

Mike Walker

Mike has been involved in the management of rights of way in Buckinghamshire for 25 years. For the past 11 years he has been the county council’s Rights of Way Manager. He is a founder IPROW member, and chairs the County Surveyors’ Society South East Region Countryside Working Group and sits on the National Group. Mike works with and manages on a daily basis issues, priorities and procedures relating to a surveying authority’s role and, as a manager, fully appreciates the kind of pressures and constraints his staff has to work within. As a rights of way professional, Mike’s interest is mainly to ensure that there are efficient processes that are fair and appropriate for today’s network.

About Natural England

Natural England is the government’s independent advisor on the natural environment. Established in 2006 our work is focused on enhancing England’s wildlife and landscapes and maximising the benefits they bring to the public.

•  We establish and care for England’s main wildlife and geological sites, ensuring that over 4,000 National Nature Reserves and Sites of Special Scientific Interest are looked after and improved.

•  We work to ensure that England’s landscapes are effectively protected, designating England’s National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Marine Conservation Zones, and advising widely on their conservation.

•  We run England’s Environmental Stewardship green farming schemes that deliver over £400 million a year to farmers and landowners, enabling them to enhance the natural environment across two thirds of England’s farmland.

•  We fund, manage, and provide scientific expertise for hundreds of conservation projects each year, improving the prospects for thousands of England’s species and habitats.

•  We promote access to the wider countryside, helping establish National Trails and coastal trails and ensuring that the public can enjoy and benefit from them.

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