Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Amendment No. 20 removes clause 62(1)(b), the aim of which is to ensure that public motor vehicular rights are only extinguished over routes that, immediately before commencement, are used less by motor vehicles than by other users, which relates to the burden of proof on those who want to prove their vehicular rights. Amendment No. 21 replaces clause 62(1)(b) with a similar provision under clause 62(2), which will exempt from extinguishment any route where it can be shown that, for five years before commencement, the public use had been mainly by motor vehicles. That will ensure that, in such cases, the burden of proof is placed on those using a motor vehicle to show that, because the route had been used mainly by motor vehicles for a significant period, the rights have not been extinguished. The effect of the two amendments is to reverse where the burden of proof will lie. Amendment No. 22 clarifies that those routes recorded on the list of streets and not recorded on the definitive map and statement are exempted from extinguishment only where they are recorded on the list of streets immediately before commencement.