My Lords, I have laid my Motion to Regret because I believe that proper records of our public rights of way are so important. We know that public rights of way encourage recreation and tourism. In my county of Cumbria, they generate much-needed income in a very rural area. They are also an integral part of our heritage. We also learned, particularly from Covid, of the important role that being in the countryside has in the prevention of ill health, improving well-being and reducing loneliness.
The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 first required local surveying authorities, which are now the county councils and the unitary authorities, to prepare official records of public rights of way. However, the problem has been that those records are incomplete. The Ramblers has provided research—I thank it for its briefing—which suggests that there may be as much as 41,000 miles of unrecorded historical public rights of way in England.
The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 included provisions for a cut-off date of 1 January 2026 for registering those rights of way. That was subject to some exemptions, after which any remaining unrecorded paths would be lost. The purpose of the regulations we are debating today is to move that cut-off date from 1 January 2026 to 1 January 2031. My Motion regrets that the regulations were laid before Parliament during the Prorogation period, which we consider to be pretty poor form. They are also due to come into force before, we think, the House has had sufficient time to scrutinise them, which is why I wanted the debate today, as much of our time since Prorogation has been taken up with the debates on His Majesty’s gracious Speech. Can the noble Lord, Lord Benyon, say why the decision was made to lay the regulations during this time?
My Motion also expresses concerns about the lack of public consultation on the policy that will be implemented by the regulations. Can the noble Lord explain the lack of public consultation on a matter that is clearly of great interest to many people? Finally, my Motion calls on the Government to outline whether and how they expect the existing backlog of applications relating to unregistered rights of way to be cleared before the deadline contained in the revised regulations.
I also express our support for the Motion in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts, which welcomes the extension of the period for officially recording footpaths but regrets that no permanent solution has been found. I look forward to his comments on his Motion.
Clearly, an additional five years to apply for historical rights of way to be added to the definitive map is welcome, as the process requires extensive and time-consuming research, which we understand has largely been undertaken by volunteers. I would therefore like
to speak a little more in detail about our concerns about the current backlog of applications. Estimates suggest that in England there could already be over 10,000 applications currently waiting to be processed by authorities, with some waiting 20 years to be determined. We believe that it is inevitable that the number of applications will increase significantly in the run-up to 1 January 2031.
It is significant that the Secondary Legislation Scrutiny Committee made it clear in its report that Defra should have included information about the local authority backlog in the Explanatory Memorandum and criticised the lack of information about the impact. I draw the attention of your Lordships’ House to one or two of the comments made in that report. First:
“The Explanatory Memorandum … states that there will be no impact on business, charities, voluntary organisations or the public sector”.
However, as local authorities are responsible for assessing and determining the applications, I cannot understand how there can be no impact.
In addition, the report noted that the backlog of applications was likely to increase in the run-up to 2031, as I said. It talked about a submission that had been received from the Open Spaces Society,
“which, while not opposing the Regulations, questioned Defra’s assumption that there will be no significant impact”.
Can the noble Lord explain why it was decided that there would be no significant impact—how was that conclusion reached? The Open Spaces Society suggests that setting back the cut-off date
“will have a very substantial impact on charities and voluntary bodies”.
Regarding local authorities, although the cut-off date cannot be postponed beyond 2031 in general, the provision enables a further postponement, without limit, in relation to the former county boroughs, which were excluded from the operation of Part IV of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. That duty was given to them only by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 clearly envisaged that it might be necessary for those places to be granted a longer period to prepare their maps, but this opportunity has not been taken.
I mentioned my county of Cumbria, where I was a county councillor. We have an enormous number of footpaths that need to be managed and recorded. Why has no provision been made for a later cut-off date in relation to the county boroughs? How do the Government intend to support the work of local surveying authorities and the voluntary sector to make progress in researching, submitting and determining applications? This is a huge amount of work.
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I can appreciate why the Government want to set a deadline: it focuses minds and should help to bring down the backlog, while at the same time hopefully providing more certainty for farmers and other landowners. So can the noble Lord, Lord Benyon, reassure this House that the exemptions to the cut-off date are fit for purpose and will cover all necessary
considerations, and that, following a review, an extension for the former county boroughs could be brought in if necessary? It is critical that we do not lose public rights of way and access because of these regulations. Can the Minister guarantee that this will not be the case?