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Jim Dowd: As far as I know, there is no retrospection in the Bill. It is only a clarifying measure. However, having said that, I note that the Minister, who is far more intimately aware of its detail than I am, seeks to intervene.

The Minister for Rural Affairs and Local Environmental Quality (Alun Michael): People are sometimes confused about the date at which provisions take effect. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 put a limit on the date by which a claim could have been made in terms of a right of way existing because of use in the past, which was 2026. That means that a long way into the future there would be a degree of uncertainty. As I understand it, the Bill allows a period of 12 months from its coming into law. So, far from having any retrospective effect, it allows a window of opportunity for evidence to be put forward under the existing arrangements, but for a year rather than for some 25 years.

Jim Dowd: I am grateful to the Minister. Those are exactly the words that I would have used myself, but he has saved me the effort.
 
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We are talking about establishing rights based on horse-drawn vehicles using tracks many years ago, which bears no resemblance to modern day use by powerful vehicles, sometimes weighing as much as 2 tonnes. This seems to be a perverse way to determine the accessibility of the rights of way network by motor vehicles.

The Government have recently consulted publicly on this issue in the consultation paper on the use of mechanically propelled vehicles on rights of way. Clearly, it is an emotive issue, which often creates conflict and ill-feeling between those who use mechanically propelled vehicles on rights of way and those who do not. However, I commend the Minister on a comprehensive consultation paper that directly confronts the issues of concern.

My hon. Friend seeks, through the Bill, to build on the proposals in that consultation paper. The Bill has a very simple purpose, which is to clarify those vehicular rights that can be recorded on local authorities' maps of rights of way, known as definitive maps, in England and Wales. At present we can only speculate on the extent of the historic evidence yet to be uncovered that would support claims in favour of their use by motor vehicles.

The Bill seeks to curtail claims for rights of way for mechanically propelled vehicles, known as byways open to all traffic, or, for those who like acronyms, BOATs. The impact is clear. When the Bill becomes an Act and its provisions are commenced, it will no longer be possible to add further byways open to all traffic to the rights of way network.

It may be helpful if I clarify how the Bill seeks to achieve that. The Bill limits the creation of any new public rights of way for mechanically propelled vehicles by ensuring that evidence of use by non-mechanically propelled vehicles in the future would not be sufficient to establish a public right of way for mechanically propelled vehicles.

The Bill also seeks to extinguish any unrecorded rights of way for mechanically propelled vehicles. This means that it will not be possible to rely upon any evidence of horse and cart use or an express dedication for such use to establish a right of way enabling motor vehicular use.But this historic evidence should not count for nothing. The Bill also provides for the recording of these rights as restricted byway rights—that is to say, rights on foot, on horseback or for non-mechanically propelled vehicles.

Mr. Forth: I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his generosity and the relaxed way in which he offers the Bill to the House on behalf of his hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen (Janet Anderson). Can he reassure me that the claims that will be allowed for another 12 months, following the Minister's helpful intervention, will be considered on exactly the same basis as hitherto, and that the Bill will in no way seek to change the criteria that have been used to consider these claims?

Jim Dowd: I believe that I can give that reassurance. As I mentioned, the Bill does not seek to change the balance; it seeks to establish a system of regulating the competing claims. As I also pointed out, it does not seek to extinguish existing rights that have been established;
 
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instead, it seeks to resolve conflicts between what could be perceived as the conflicting rights of users of footpaths and byways.

We are not discounting historic evidence. The Bill provides for the recording of restricted byway rights—rights for those who are on foot or horseback or are using non-mechanically propelled vehicles. That separates such byways from those that are open to all traffic rights. In most cases, recording rights under that category will ensure that rights of way are used in a way that reflects their historic past.

There are property owners or occupiers who rely on unrecorded public vehicular rights of way to gain access to their premises. They need to be protected from being landlocked. The Bill ensures that landowners and occupiers who are adversely affected by extinguishment of unrecorded rights in respect of mechanically propelled vehicles will retain those unrecorded rights to the extent that they need to exercise them in order to access their land. Of course, the provision would also extend to people who are legitimately visiting such owners or occupiers.

The Bill provides an opportunity for Members of the House to highlight their concerns about the use of motor vehicles on rights of way, and I am confident that the evidence will demonstrate that action is needed now if we are serious about having a sustainable rights of way network. The Bill is a major step forward in addressing the problems associated with motor vehicles in the countryside. It seeks not to ban vehicles, but merely to ensure that their future use is not dictated by past use that bears no comparison with the circumstances of today.

On behalf of my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen, I thank all the hon. Members who have helped her in preparing in the Bill and who have expressed their support, as well as those outside the House who have sent letters and e-mails expressing their support. I again thank the Minister and his staff for their considerable efforts and assistance in drafting the Bill, and I thank him for his decisive approach.

If the House, in its infinite wisdom, gives the Bill a Second Reading today, my hon. Friend the Member for Rossendale and Darwen will do all that she can to ensure that it achieves the further stages of its parliamentary progress—and she would do it in person, I am certain.

1.42 pm

John Mann (Bassetlaw) (Lab): A Bill that can unite in my area all farmers without exception, all horse riders without exception and dog walkers—I cannot confirm that it unites all dog walkers, because I have not spoken to all of them, but all whom I have consulted in many of the 80 villages around my constituency would warmly welcome a Bill such as this—is to be welcomed. Should a Committee consider the Bill, I shall earnestly offer my services to assist in its further progress.

I have one question, which I hope the Minister will answer, about what will happen if changes of the sort that are proposed should be introduced, whether through this Bill or other means. I want to ask about retrospective action, as it appears to me that in areas such as mine or the neighbouring constituency of Newark, where applications are currently under way,
 
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there needs to be clear guidance on the potential use of traffic regulation. When people wish to ride quad bikes and other such motorised vehicles, including motor bikes of all different kinds, licensed and unlicensed, legal and illegal, on the footpaths and bridleways of my area and that of the hon. Member for Newark (Patrick Mercer), such guidance is needed to ensure that we have the opportunity properly to put a case on our constituents' behalf in order to restrict such rights and allow people to get on with their lives in peace, rather than alongside the horrors of organised sport invading the countryside in an inappropriate way.

I hope that the Minister can consider providing some guidance, irrespective of the progress of the Bill, on how traffic regulation orders could be used by decent, law-abiding people in order to protect their rights.

1.44 pm

Mr. David Ruffley (Bury St. Edmunds) (Con): The use of a loophole to convert more public paths into byways open to all traffic is a cause for concern. Conservative Members therefore welcome the Government's consultation on mechanically propelled vehicles, which closed in March, and we also welcome the Bill.

It is important to understand the scale of the problem. In England, there are about 188,000 km of public rights of way, of which more than 146,000 km are footpaths, just over 32,000 km are bridleways and 3,700 km are byways open to all traffic. An additional 6,000 km of roads are used as public paths or RUPPs—roads used as public paths—and they are currently being reclassified under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

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