Memorandum submitted by the Ramblers'
Association (R1)
BACKGROUND
The legislation
Part I of the Countryside and Rights of Way
Act 2000 (CROW) introduces a new statutory right of access for
open-air recreation to mountain, moor, heath, down and registered
common land, once maps of these areas have been drawn up by the
Countryside Agency (CA) and Countryside Council for Wales (CCW).
The right could also be extended to coastal land in the future.
Certain land is specifically excluded, including
buildings, gardens, cultivated land, land consisting of improved
or semi-improved grassland, golf courses, racecourses and railways.
Certain activities and behaviour will not be
permitted such as horse-riding, and using vehicles, including
bicycles and boats. People on access land must not light fires,
damage plants, animals or property, feed livestock or bathe in
water. Those who break these rules will lose their right of access
for 72 hours and will be treated as trespassers.
Landowners may exclude or restrict access for
any reason for up to 28 days a year without seeking permission,
although closures at weekends are to be limited. They will also
be able to seek further exclusions or restrictions for land management
reasons. The CA and CCW will be able to authorise closures on
grounds of nature and heritage conservation, fire prevention and
to avoid danger to the public. A new country code will be produced
which will inform landowners of their responsibilities and will
also ensure that the public are properly informed about their
new rights and how to enjoy them responsibly.
The mapping process
Under CROW, the land which will become available
to walkers must be clearly identified before the new rights can
be exercised. In England, the CA must produce maps showing all
open country and registered common land. They have appointed a
contractor—Binnie, Black and Veatch (BBV)—to do this.
The CA must include all land which they consider
to be wholly or predominantly mountain, moor, heath or down on
the maps. They may move the boundary to make it more obvious to
landowners and users on the ground and may exclude areas under
five hectares if they consider that they serve no useful purpose.
They must also include all registered common
land on the map, that is, land registered under the Commons Registration
Act 1965.
Until the maps have been produced and the Secretary
of State has issued a commencement order, there will be no new
access.
There are five stages to the process:
— Draft maps. Once these are
produced there will be a three-month period during which anyone
can put forward their views. This is the most important stage
for walkers and other users to have their say.
— Provisional maps. Once these
are produced there will be a right of appeal for landowners only
if they consider that an area of land shown is not mountain, moor
heath, down or common land and should not be shown.
— Conclusive maps. This is the
map which will define where the new right of access exists.
— Commencement. The Secretary
of State will decide when the new right of access will begin.
— Review. The maps will be reviewed
within 10 years and no less than every 10 years after that.
Mapping in England
Mapping is proceeding on a region-by-region
basis. The timetable has been revised several times, but the current
one is as follows:
| Region | Draft map
| Provisional map |
| 1. South East | Published Nov 2001
| Published Oct 2002 |
| 2. Lower North West | Published Nov 2001
| Published Nov 2002 |
| 3. South | Published Sept 2002
| |
| 4. Upper North West | Published 10 Dec 2002
| |
| 5. North East | Due March 2003
| |
| 6. South West | Due Spring 2003
| |
| 7. West | Due Summer 2003 |
|
| 8. East | Due Autumn 2003 |
|
Remaining provisional maps are expected to be published six
to eight months after the end of the consultation on draft maps,
depending on the number of submissions received. Conclusive maps
are expected to be published six to 12 months after the provisional
maps depending on appeals. The final target for the completion
of all mapping and the introduction of access rights is 2005 (this
is the government's Public Service Agreement target).
PROGRESS SO
FAR
The first two regions
Draft maps for the first two regions were published in November
2001 and, at that point, a three-month public consultation began,
ending in February 2002. The second stage of the process, the
provisional maps, were to have been published in June 2002.
However, on 17 April 2002 the CA announced that the publication
dates for these first two maps were to be delayed from June until
July 2002 (South East) and from June until September 2002 (Lower
North West). In the same press release, the Agency announced that
almost all other publication dates for draft and provisional maps
were also to be put back by approximately two months.
The provisional map for the South East was finally published
on 29 July 2002, and the three-month period during which those
with a legal interest in the land can appeal against its inclusion
began. (The Planning Inspectorate will hear appeals.)
However, on 22 August 2002, in another press release, the
CA announced that, due to errors having been found on the first
provisional map it would have to be withdrawn. These errors were
principally the cause of decisions having been taken on submissions
made during the draft map consultation but then not reflected
on the provisional map.
In this announcement, the CA again announced delays to the
mapping programme. The provisional map for the Lower North West
would not be published on 30 September 2002. In addition, the
CA chose to move from a timetable that gave the exact dates on
which draft and provisional maps would be published to one that
merely gives the season during which the draft map will be published,
with a promise that the provisional maps will follow six to eight
months afterwards.
The reissued provisional map for the South East was published
on 7 October 2002, and the three-month period during which appeals
can be submitted began again. The provisional map for the Lower
North West was published on 18 November 2002.
Mapping from existing datasets
BBV is producing draft maps using existing datasets (for
example, habitat surveys and MAFF information such as the moorland
line). This information is supplemented in some areas by aerial
photography and site visits. In many areas the data available
appears to have been out of date and inadequate for this purpose,
leading to delays in production of maps and inaccuracies in published
draft maps. The inadequate quality of the available data was nowhere
more obvious than in the Macclesfield area. The resulting poor
quality of the mapping in this part of Cheshire (and in other
parts of Region 2) was an undoubted factor in the unexpectedly
large number of comments received during the draft map consultation
for the region, and therefore for the delay in the mapping programme.
The inaccuracy of the data used meant that the draft map showed
as access land areas that are specifically precluded under the
legislation—fields with crops, gardens etc. which gave opponents
of the legislation a stick with which to beat the CA as well as
leading to a huge number of comments in response to the consultation.
In the announcement on 17 April 2002 the CA admitted that
they did not have good enough data for parts of Region 3, and
in particular for Wiltshire, to be able to issue the draft map
for Region 3 on time. More aerial photography needed to be bought
in, and more fieldwork had to be done, to ensure that the maps
reflected what the CA should have been mapping. (Despite the delays,
anecdotal evidence from Ramblers' Association members on the ground
in Wiltshire suggests that they may not have been altogether successful.)
Emergency regulations
One of the consequences of the withdrawal of the provisional
map for Region 1 on 22 August last year was that DEFRA were forced
to do an emergency consultation on regulations to allow for the
correcting of errors in provisional and conclusive maps should
they occur in future. This meant diverting effort in the department
from other important sets of regulations required under Part I
of CROW, and has put the regulatory timetable back further.
The methodology
Another result of the announcement of 17 April 2002 was a
retrospective change in the mapping methodology in reference to
the discretion allowed to the CA to omit land that qualifies as
open country but is less than five hectares and therefore serves
no useful purpose. Originally, land less than five hectares could
only be omitted if it met all of the following criteria:
— There was other access land nearby.
— The land did not provide a route to other access
land.
— There was no nearby parcel of land which had the
potential to be linked with the parcel to form a larger unit.
— The land did not contain any feature of special
interest to the public.
— The land was not close to any settlement, visitor
attraction, right of way or public road.
Under the amended methodology the Agency were only required
to bear these criteria in mind when making a decision. In addition,
the methodology was applied retrospectively to Regions 1 and 2,
thereby removing land without its removal being subject to public
consultation as to it serving a useful purpose.
Binnie Black and Veatch/Atkins
There has been a renegotiation of the contract between the
Agency and BBV (and a transfer of risk from the Agency to BBV).
Problems appear to have occurred because BBV had not been able
to adequately increase the size of their operation as the scale
of the mapping project became apparent. This was one of the factors
contributing to the mapping delays. The CA has retained the services
of consultants Atkins to do a project audit of BBV's work on mapping
thus far.
Regional commencement of the new rights of access
In a written ministerial statement on 28 November 2002, Alun
Michael announced that the new access rights under Part I of CROW
would be introduced in Regions 1 and 3 (the South East and Central
Southern regions) in the summer of 2004. However, no announcement
of their implementation in Region 2 (the Lower North West) was
forthcoming. In a written answer to a question from Paddy Tipping
MP on 9 December the minister clarified the original statement
and said that he intends to open the new statutory right of access
in the lower north-west and upper north-west together during the
autumn of 2004, to be followed by the north-east and the south-west
in the first six months of 2005, with all access land opened by
the end of 2005.
Restrictions system
Before any new rights of access can be implemented the CA
must establish and test a restrictions system. They expect this
restrictions system to be in place by December 2003, giving just
a few months before the new rights commence in the first two regions.
The Agency has admitted that the timescales for development and
testing of the restrictions system before delivery are tight.
Conclusion
Given the enormous public benefit which will be the result
of the successful implementation of this important legislation
and the considerable problems that appear to have been encountered,
the Ramblers' Association believes that there is much to be gained
from a parliamentary audit of the CA's work on this project so
far.
29 January 2003
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