Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his statement and I shall not pursue the point, except to say that there is a huge backlog of applications, an issue to which a number of noble Lords have referred. However, local authorities have many responsibilities relating to rights of way—for instance, footpath diversions, various developments and so forth—which have nothing to do with this Bill. They are all enormously time-consuming. So despite what is alleged, local authorities are not sitting around doing nothing and the amount of time that can be devoted to addressing the issues now before us is necessarily limited. It has already been said in the debate that most people want to have quiet enjoyment of the countryside. Despite the vociferous representations made on behalf of several groups which drive 4x4s, quad bikes and motorcycles for fun along rights of way and on green lanes, a very much larger majority of people value the quiet enjoyment of the countryside. Those people do not believe that their rights should be interfered with by the wishes of a very small minority. On Saturday an article published in the Daily Telegraph touches closely on the issues now before us. Many noble Lords may have read it. However, the article totally misrepresents the position of those of us who want to protect rights of way. It talks about how access for the disabled would be compromised. That is not our intention because I do not know of many disabled people who ride quad bikes and motorbikes over rough terrain. It also states that rural householders and businesses will find themselves landlocked because their access rights will be taken away from them. That is manifestly untrue. I raise one other issue to which the Minister may turn in his response; that is, the new national parks and the country wardens to be employed by those parks and, in some areas, by the counties. The national parks will be able to produce their own traffic regulation orders. However, as we all know, enforcement of the law is the most difficult task. Even when a route is prohibited, there can be a considerable amount of illegal use. Will the Minister ensure that the officers appointed as wardens by the national parks will be vested by chief constables with the same powers as those held by community service officers—the semi-policemen we see around Westminster—so that they can report to the police any breaches of the traffic regulation orders? In that way, enforcement activity, which is currently so limited, would be enhanced. Beyond those remarks, I shall await the Minister’s announcement when he sums up the debate. We shall be able to return to this business at a later stage.