Countryside and Rights of Way Bill — Definition of legally relevant objection — 14 Jun 2000

authorising the stopping up or diversion of a highway of any description; and in the following provisions of this section--

(a) "the relevant authority" means the person exercising the power, and

(b) "the existing highway" means the highway to be stopped up or diverted.

(2) Where the relevant authority is required (expressly or by implication) to consider--

(a) whether the existing highway is unnecessary, or is needed for public use,

(b) whether an alternative highway should be provided, or

(c) whether any public right of way should be reserved,

the relevant authority, in considering that question, is not to regard the fact that any land is access land in respect of which the right conferred by section 2(1) is exercisable as reducing the need for the existing highway, for the provision of an alternative highway or for the reservation of a public right of way.

(3) Where--

(a) the existing highway is situated on, or in the vicinity of, any access land, and

(b) the relevant authority is required (expressly or by implication) to consider the extent (if any) to which the existing highway would, apart from the exercise of the power, be likely to be used by the public,

the relevant authority, in considering that question, is to have regard, in particular, to the extent to which the highway would be likely to be used by the public at any time when the right conferred by section 2(1) is not exercisable in relation to the access land.

(4) In this section--

"access land " has the same meaning as in Part I;

"highway" includes part of a highway.'.-- [Mr. Meacher.]

Brought up, read the First and Second time, and added to the Bill.

Brought up, read the First and Second time, and added to the Bill.

(a) it was on 1st January 1949 a footpath or a bridleway, is on the cut-off date (in either case) a footpath or a bridleway, and between those dates has not been a highway of any other description,

(b) it is not on the cut-off date shown in a definitive map and statement as a highway of any description, and

(c) it is not on the cut-off date an excepted highway, as defined by section ( Excepted highways or rights of way )(1).

(2) All rights of way over a highway to which this subsection applies shall be extinguished immediately after the cut-off date.

(3) Where a public right of way created before 1949--

(a) falls within subsection (4) on the cut-off date, and

(b) is not on that date an excepted right of way, as defined by section ( Excepted highways or rights of way )(5),

that right of way shall be extinguished immediately after the cut-off date.

(4) A public right of way falls within this subsection if it is--

(a) a public right of way on horseback, leading a horse or for vehicles over the whole or part of so much of a way as is shown in a definitive map and statement as a footpath;

(b) a right for the public to drive animals of any description along the whole or part of so much of a way as is shown in a definitive map and statement as a footpath;

(c) a public right of way for vehicles over the whole or part of so much of a way as is shown in a definitive map and statement as a bridleway; or

(d) a public right of way for mechanically propelled vehicles over the whole or part of so much of a way as is shown in a definitive map and statement as a restricted byway.

(5) Where by virtue of subsection (3) a highway ceases to be a bridleway, the right of way created over it by section 30 of the Countryside Act 1968 (riding of pedal cycles on bridleways) is also extinguished.

(6) In determining for the purposes of subsection (1) whether a highway or any part of it was at any time a footpath or a bridleway, any diversion, widening or extension of the highway after that time (and not later than the cut-off date) is to be treated as having occurred before that time.

(7) In determining for the purposes of subsection (3) whether a public right of way over a highway or over any part of it was created before 1st January 1949, any diversion, widening or extension of the highway on or after that date (and not later than the cut-off date) is to be treated as having occurred before 1st January 1949.

(8) Where a way shown on the cut-off date in a definitive map and statement has at any time been diverted, widened or extended, it is to be treated for the purposes of subsections (1) to (5) as shown as so diverted, widened or extended, whether or not it is so shown.

(9) In this section--

"cut-off date" has the meaning given in section ( Cut-off date for extinguishment etc. ), and

"mechanically propelled vehicle" does not include a vehicle falling within paragraph (c) of section 189(1) of the Road Traffic Act 1988.

(10) In this section and section ( Excepted highways or rights of way ) expressions used in Part III of the 1981 Act have the same meaning as in that Part, except that "highway", "footpath" and "bridleway" mean the whole or part of a highway, footpath or bridleway (as the case may be) within the meaning of that Part.'.-- [Mr. Meacher.]

Brought up, read the First and Second time, and added to the Bill.

(d) it is a footpath or bridleway of such other description as may be specified in regulations made (as respects England) by the Secretary of State or (as respects Wales) by the National Assembly for Wales, or

(e) it is a footpath or bridleway so specified.

(2) A footpath or bridleway ("the relevant highway") satisfies the first condition if--

(a) it became a footpath or bridleway on or after 1st January 1949 by the diversion, widening or extension of a footpath or, as the case may be, of a bridleway by virtue of an event within section 53(3)(a) of the 1981 Act,

(b) it became a footpath on or after 1st January 1949 by the stopping up of a bridleway,

(c) it was on 1st January 1949 a footpath and is on the cut-off date a bridleway,

(d) it is so much of a footpath or bridleway as on or after 1st January 1949 has been stopped up as respects part only of its width, or

(e) it is so much of a footpath or bridleway as passes over a bridge or through a tunnel,

and it communicates with a retained highway, either directly or by means of one or more footpaths or bridleways each of which forms part of the same highway as the relevant highway and each of which either falls within any of paragraphs (a) to (e) or satisfies the condition in subsection (3).

(3) A footpath or bridleway satisfies the second condition if--

(a) it extends from a footpath or bridleway ("the relevant highway") which--

(i) falls within any of paragraphs (a) to (e) of subsection (2), or

(ii) is an excluded highway by virtue of subsection (1)(c),

to, but not beyond, a retained highway, and

(b) it forms part of the same highway as the relevant highway.

(4) A retained highway for the purposes of subsections (2) and (3) is any highway over which, otherwise than by virtue of subsection (1)(a), section ( Extinguishment of unrecorded rights of way )(1) does not extinguish rights of way.

(5) A public right of way is an excepted right of way for the purposes of section ( Extinguishment of unrecorded rights of way )(3) if--

(a) it subsists over the whole or part of a way over which there subsists on the cut-off date any public right of way created on or after 1st January 1949 otherwise than by virtue of section 30 of the Countryside Act 1968 (riding of pedal cycles on bridleways),

(b) it subsists over the whole or part of a way any part of which is in an area which, immediately before 1st April 1965, formed part of the administrative county of London,

(c) it is a public right of way of such other description as may be specified in regulations made (as respects England) by the Secretary of State or (as respects Wales) by the National Assembly for Wales, or

(d) it subsists over land so specified.

(6) Regulations under subsection (1)(d) or (e) or (5)(c) or (d) shall be made by statutory instrument, and a statutory instrument containing such regulations made by the Secretary of State shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.'.-- [Mr. Meacher.]

Brought up, read the First and Second time, and added to the Bill.

(a) immediately before the commencement of this section is, and

(b) at the cut-off date continues to be,

a footpath which is shown in a definitive map and statement as a bridleway.

(2) Subsection (1) has effect subject to the operation of any enactment or instrument (whether coming into operation before or after the cut-off date), and to the effect of any event otherwise within section 53(3)(a) of the 1981 Act, whereby a highway is authorised to be stopped up, diverted, widened or extended; and subsection (1) applies accordingly to any way as so diverted, widened or extended.

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply in relation to any way which is, or is part of, a footpath any part of which is in an area which, immediately before 1st April 1965, formed part of the administrative county of London.

(4) Where--

(a) by virtue of regulations under section ( Cut-off date for extinguishment etc. )(2) an order under Part III of the 1981 Act takes effect after the cut-off date in relation to any footpath which, at the cut-off date was shown in a definitive map and statement as a bridleway,

(b) the regulations do not prevent subsection (1) from having effect after the cut-off date in relation to that footpath, and

(c) if the order had taken effect before that date, that footpath would not have fallen within subsection (1),

all rights over that way which exist only by virtue of subsection (1) shall be extinguished when the order takes effect.

(5) In this section--

(a) "cut-off date" has the meaning given in section ( Cut-off date for extinguishment etc. ), and

(b) expressions used in Part III of the 1981 Act have the same meaning as in that Part.'.-- [Mr. Meacher.]

Brought up, read the First and Second time, and added to the Bill.

(2) The Secretary of State (as respects England) or the National Assembly for Wales (as respects Wales) may make regulations--

(a) substituting as the cut-off date for the purposes of those sections a date later than the date specified in subsection (1) or for the time being substituted under this paragraph;

(b) containing such transitional provisions or savings as appear to the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales (as the case may be) to be necessary or expedient in connection with the operation of those sections, including in particular their operation in relation to any way as respects which--

(i) on the cut-off date an application for an order under section 53(2) of the 1981 Act is pending,

(ii) on that date an order under Part III of that Act has been made but not confirmed, or

(iii) after that date such an order or any provision of such an order is to any extent quashed.

(3) Regulations under subsection (2)(a)--

(a) may specify different dates for different areas; but

(b) may not specify a date later than 1st January 2031, except as respects an area within subsection (4).

(4) An area is within this subsection if it is in--

(a) the Isles of Scilly, or

(b) an area which, at any time before the repeal by section 73 of the 1981 Act of sections 27 to 34 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949--

(i) was excluded from the operation of those sections by virtue of any provision of the 1949 Act, or

(ii) would have been so excluded but for a resolution having effect under section 35(2) of that Act.

(5) Where by virtue of regulations under subsection (2) there are different cut-off dates for areas into which different parts of any highway extend, the cut-off date in relation to that highway is the later or latest of those dates.

(6) Regulations under this section shall be made by statutory instrument, and a statutory instrument containing such regulations made by the Secretary of State shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.'.-- [Mr. Meacher.]

Brought up, read the First and Second time, and added to the Bill.

Brought up, and read the First time.

Motion made, and Question put, That the clause be read a Second time:--

The House divided: Ayes 34, Noes 276.

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