We finally have a responce from the government concerning the - PETITION TO REPEAL SECTIONS 53 TO 56 OF THE COUNTRYSIDE AND RIGHTS OF WAY ACT 2000.
Repeal2026 - epetition response
We received a petition asking:
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to repeal sections 53 to 56 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 so that thousands of unrecorded rights of way are not lost forever in 2026.
Details of Petition:
The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 introduced a deadline for the recording of historic rights of way on definitive maps (the legal record of public rights of way). After 1 January 2026 most pre-1949 paths which have not been recorded on these maps will be lost forever. An estimated 20,000 paths could be lost because of this measure, including many in towns and cities. The government funded project to assist with the researching and recording of these routes has been terminated without recording a single path but when the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill was going through Parliament the then Minister, Michael Meacher said we do not intend to [bring definitively to a close the exercise of determining the rights of way network] without ensuring that there are adequate resources to make it possible for all existing paths that can reasonably be found to be found. The public therefore had a legitimate expectation that something would be done to record the so-called lost ways. Now that the promised resources have been withdrawn repeal of the cut-off date is essential.
Read the Governments response
After Natural Englands review of the Discovering Lost Ways Project, it was decided to set up a Stakeholder Working Group (SWG) to look at the various issues surrounding the completion of the definitive map.
The Group brings together key interests nationally to agree a package of reforms in this area. We believe that this Group presents a unique opportunity for rights of way stakeholders, whether they represent users, local authorities or land managers, who are equally represented, to work towards a new framework they can all support. While this does not mean that Government is, at this stage, committing to any further legislative reform, it will be an excellent opportunity to feed in any ideas for improvements which may help improve the recording and establishment of public rights of way.
This does not necessarily mean throwing away the processes already in place, but rather identifying where difficulties lie and finding ways of overcoming them. What comes out of the Stakeholder Working Group depends very much on the participants and their willingness to work together to come up with effective and mutually acceptable solutions whatever these might be. In the meantime, we have agreed not to pursue implementation of the cut-off date provision in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, at least until the Stakeholder Working Group has reported on its proposals which we expect to be completed by the end of 2009.
A link to the Goverment responce page
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20309
Repeal2026 - epetition response
We received a petition asking:
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to repeal sections 53 to 56 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 so that thousands of unrecorded rights of way are not lost forever in 2026.
Details of Petition:
The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 introduced a deadline for the recording of historic rights of way on definitive maps (the legal record of public rights of way). After 1 January 2026 most pre-1949 paths which have not been recorded on these maps will be lost forever. An estimated 20,000 paths could be lost because of this measure, including many in towns and cities. The government funded project to assist with the researching and recording of these routes has been terminated without recording a single path but when the Countryside and Rights of Way Bill was going through Parliament the then Minister, Michael Meacher said we do not intend to [bring definitively to a close the exercise of determining the rights of way network] without ensuring that there are adequate resources to make it possible for all existing paths that can reasonably be found to be found. The public therefore had a legitimate expectation that something would be done to record the so-called lost ways. Now that the promised resources have been withdrawn repeal of the cut-off date is essential.
Read the Governments response
After Natural Englands review of the Discovering Lost Ways Project, it was decided to set up a Stakeholder Working Group (SWG) to look at the various issues surrounding the completion of the definitive map.
The Group brings together key interests nationally to agree a package of reforms in this area. We believe that this Group presents a unique opportunity for rights of way stakeholders, whether they represent users, local authorities or land managers, who are equally represented, to work towards a new framework they can all support. While this does not mean that Government is, at this stage, committing to any further legislative reform, it will be an excellent opportunity to feed in any ideas for improvements which may help improve the recording and establishment of public rights of way.
This does not necessarily mean throwing away the processes already in place, but rather identifying where difficulties lie and finding ways of overcoming them. What comes out of the Stakeholder Working Group depends very much on the participants and their willingness to work together to come up with effective and mutually acceptable solutions whatever these might be. In the meantime, we have agreed not to pursue implementation of the cut-off date provision in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, at least until the Stakeholder Working Group has reported on its proposals which we expect to be completed by the end of 2009.
A link to the Goverment responce page
http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page20309
