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Footpath mapping and Deregulation Bill

Scott

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2010
Messages
1,046
Yesterday morning BBC news reported that the ramblers were in a rush to make sure that all the footpaths were correctly marked on the definitive map before a 2026 deadline that is looming. Apparently any changes need to be sorted before the deadline, or they risk losing parts of footpaths that aren't correctly mapped, as land owners would be able to stop them from accessing their land if the map didn't show that the footpath went across their property.
On the one side you had the rambler saying that it is very important to map the routes correctly so that they aren't lost, and remain for future use. Which is a perfectly valid view point, even though I don’t regularly actively ramble in the countryside, I do use footpaths occasionally. On the other side you had a solicitor saying how drawn out and costly this process will be for all involved.
Apparently it's taken 3 years of organising and discussion by the ramblers to come up with their standard template and process for submissions.
Shame the reclassification of RUPPs and introduction of restricted byways, removing a large chunk of vehicular access to unsurfaced rights of way, didn't get publicised in quite the same way.


I can’t find a link to the BBC article, but heres a couple of others:


http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/historic-north-east-walking-routes-6722137


http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/update/2014-02-21/ramblers-concerned-that-footpaths-could-be-lost-from-the-countryside/

I’m away on business at the moment but before I left I happened to glanced at the latest Glass magazine and noticed that there was some mention of a new threat to vehicular rights of way, below is an extract from the Glass website:




GLASS AND THE DEREGULATION BILL
THE FUTURE OF GREEN LANING

Some of you may have heard about The Deregulation Bill and how it might affect rights of way. The Bill is about simplifying processes and will enable Government to make changes to legislation. The draft bill had a section in it on rights of way that the Anti’s are trying to hijack.

Their proposal was to turn all BOATs and UCRs into Restricted Byways!

Rights of Way is a very small portion of the original Draft Bill but out of a total of 350 letters and submissions more than 50% was about Rights of Way, so it is a very emotive subject. So far the drafting committee has not accepted attempts by organisations such as GLEAM, Peak Horse Power, etc to add any new restrictions to rights of way by amendment.

There is a GLASS briefing document on the link below and we suggest you read it for more info. This potentially could be NERC2 as we are not out of the woods yet.


WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Well the simple answer to that is join us. GLASS will continue our fight to retain recreational vehicular rights of way, and the more members we have, the more effective we are.

See our information sheet here




Glad Glass are on the ball with this, hopefully with support they’ll be able to safe guard our enjoyment of driving the unsurfaced rights of way that provide us with access to the beautiful and remote scenery which we all like to visit.
 
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