Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

My Lords, first, I should declare my interests as the president of the Friends of the Ridgeway. I am also an Oxfordshire county councillor, a member of the Thames Valley Police Authority and a member of a wildlife trust. I would like the Minister, in his summary, to clear up once and for all the basis on which BOAT status—that is, by-ways open to all traffic—is in future to be claimed. This goes to the heart of Part 6 of this Bill. I know that the Minister has said that negotiations were still taking place—