Sections 21 to 33: Exclusion or restriction of access

37.     Section 21 defines exclusions or restrictions of access for the purposes of Chapter II, and gives examples of the forms which restrictions of access might take. Subsection (5) explains that, for the purposes of the Chapter, the "relevant authority" is the countryside body, or, where the land falls within a National Park, the National Park authority. However, subsection (6) enables the Forestry Commissioners to give notice that the Commissioners will act as the relevant authority for any land dedicated under section 16 which appears to the Commissioners to consist wholly or predominantly of woodland. Subsection (7) enables the notice to be revoked where land ceases to be woodland. (Where the Commissioners have given such notice, the Commissioners are the relevant authority from the date specified in the notice.)

38.     Section 22 explains how landowners (or, where the land is subject to a farm tenancy, the tenant) will have a discretion to exclude or restrict access on up to 28 days each calendar year. However, no more than four of the 28 days may comprise a Saturday or Sunday, and the discretion may not be exercised at all in respect of Saturdays between 1 June and 11 August in each year, nor on Sundays between 1 June and 30 September, nor any bank holiday. The Secretary of State (or the National Assembly for Wales) will be able, by regulations, to vest the discretionary right to exclude or restrict access in any combination of persons with an interest in the land (such as the tenant and those with sporting rights), but only so that, taken together, their rights do not exceed 28 days in any year. The person exercising the discretion will be required to inform the relevant authority of the exclusion or restriction. Subsection (8) will enable the Secretary of State (or the National Assembly for Wales) to make regulations requiring the exercise of discretion under section 22 to relate to land the boundaries of which are determined in accordance with regulations. The regulations could, for example, seek to ensure that land subject to discretionary restrictions is identifiable in practice — by requiring it to be bounded by, for example, a stream, ditch or fence.

39.     Section 23 provides that landowners will also, in certain circumstances, have a discretion to restrict access so as to exclude the taking of dogs. The restriction may apply at any time in respect of land which is managed for the breeding and shooting of grouse; and for a period of no more than six weeks, in respect of any field of 15 hectares in size or less, in connection with lambing. Subsection (5) provides that any exclusion of dogs under this provision does not apply to trained guide or hearing dogs.

40.     Sections 24 to 26 and section 28 set out the circumstances in which exclusions or restrictions may be directed by the relevant authority or, in the case of defence or national security, by the Secretary of State. In every case, the authority (or the Secretary of State) may impose only the minimum restriction consistent with the purpose for which it is sought. Exclusions or restrictions for the purposes of land management, the prevention of fire, the prevention of danger to the public, nature conservation, heritage, defence or national security may be for a fixed period or may take place at a time to be determined by a person specified for that purpose in the direction. Where a direction would exclude or restrict access to land indefinitely, or for a period of at least six months, the relevant authority must first consult any local access forum for the area (see the notes on sections 94 and 95 relating to the provision for local access forums in Part V of the Act).

41.     An application may be made for a direction in respect of land which is not (at the time of the application) access land, but sections 24(4) and 25(5) provide that the relevant authority may not give such a direction unless they are satisfied that the land is likely to become access land during the period of the proposed direction. Such directions might be given in anticipation of land being shown as access land on the publication of a conclusive map by the countryside body, or in anticipation of the termination of an access agreement over land to which the new statutory right would apply but for the effect of section 15(1)(c).

42.     Section 24 allows the relevant authority to exclude or restrict access for the purposes of land management. Any person with an interest in the land may apply. In deciding whether to approve such applications, the authority must take into consideration the use made or intended to be made by the applicant of the discretionary power to exclude or restrict access for up to 28 days each year.

43.     Section 25 enables the relevant authority to exclude or restrict access where there is particular risk of fire, or to protect the public from any danger by reason of anything done or intended to be done on the land. Any person with an interest in the land may apply, or the relevant authority may initiate such an exclusion or restriction itself. In deciding whether to approve an application, the authority must take into consideration the use made or intended to be made by the applicant of the discretionary power under section 22.

44.     Section 26 sets out provisions for excluding or restricting access to land in the interests of wildlife and habitat conservation, or to protect sites of historic or archaeological importance. The relevant authority will be responsible for directing such exclusions or restrictions of access, but in England, they must have regard to any advice given by English Nature or the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission (English Heritage), as appropriate. In Wales, a National Park authority and the Forestry Commissioners must have regard to any advice given by the Countryside Council for Wales (for proposals with respect to wildlife and nature conservation) or the National Assembly for Wales (Cadw — for proposals with respect to the preservation of sites of heritage or archaeological importance). The Countryside Council for Wales must have regard to any advice given by the Assembly (Cadw) on exclusions or restrictions for the preservation of sites of historic or archaeological importance. The body to whose advice the relevant authority must have regard are known as "the relevant advisory body".

45.     Section 27 provides for directions which exclude or restrict access on grounds of nature conservation, heritage, land management, fire or danger, to be revoked or modified by the relevant authority, after consulting (where reasonably practicable) the person who initially applied for the exclusion or restriction or his successor in title (or, in the case of nature conservation or heritage closures, consulting with the relevant advisory body). It also requires long-term or annual exclusions or restrictions which last for more than five years to be reviewed at least every five years.

46.     Section 28 provides for the Secretary of State to exclude or restrict access for the purposes of defence or national security. Where such exclusions or restrictions last for more than five years, the Secretary of State must review them at least every five years. The Secretary of State must also prepare a report on any review of a direction given for the purposes of defence undertaken in a year, and lay a copy of his report before Parliament. The Secretary of State may revoke or modify a direction given under this section.

47.     Section 29 outlines the provisions for a reference by a relevant advisory body in relation to exclusions or restrictions proposed under section 26. Where the advisory body has given advice and the relevant authority has decided not to direct the exclusion or restriction (or otherwise not to act in accordance with the advice), the advisory body may make a reference to the appropriate Minister (or to the National Assembly for Wales), who may require the authority to make such exclusions or restrictions as he (or it) thinks fit. The appropriate Minister will be the Secretary of State, except in relation to referrals arising from a decision of the Forestry Commissioners (in England), where the appropriate Minister will be the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. This provision does not apply to proposals with respect to the preservation of sites of historic or archaeological importance in Wales, because Cadw are themselves an executive agency of the National Assembly for Wales.

48.     Section 30 makes provision for an applicant for a direction under section 24 or 25 (exclusions or restrictions in interests of land management, fire or danger), to appeal to the appropriate Minister (or the National Assembly for Wales) where the relevant authority decides not to act in accordance with the application. The appropriate Minister is defined as in section 29. On hearing the appeal, the appropriate Minister (or the National Assembly for Wales) may require the authority to make such exclusion or restriction as he (or it) thinks fit. Subsection (5) provides for sections 7 and 8 (and Schedule 3) to apply to the procedure on appeal as they apply to the procedure on appeals against provisional maps.

49.     It may be necessary to exclude or restrict access to land in an emergency. Section 31 provides that the Secretary of State (or the National Assembly for Wales) may make regulations to enable the relevant authority to exclude or restrict access in such circumstances for up to three months. Subsection (2) allows the regulations to apply any of the other provisions in Chapter II, with modifications, to a direction given under this section — for example, to allow for consultation (possibly after the direction has been made) with advisory bodies where the restriction or exclusion is made in the interests of the urgent protection of wildlife.

50.     Section 32 enables the Secretary of State to make regulations providing for the procedures relating to the exclusion or restriction of access under Chapter II, including the requirements for the giving of notice, the undertaking of consultation, the giving of directions, and the procedure on an appeal. These regulations may also restrict applications for directions under section 24 or 25 from commoners: regulations might, for example, require applications to represent a majority of the commoners interested in the land, or to show that the applicants have the power to implement any direction given (by excluding or restricting public access to the common).

51.     The Countryside Agency, and the Countryside Council for Wales, are generally responsible for administering the provisions for exclusions and restrictions under Chapter II outside the National Parks. Section 33 provides powers for those two bodies to issue guidance to National Park authorities on their role in administering these provisions within National Parks, and to the Forestry Commissioners where the Commissioners are the relevant authority for woodlands dedicated under section 16. The countryside bodies' guidance will need approval from the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales, and must be published.

Sections 34 to 39: Means of Access

52.     Chapter III sets out the arrangements for access to be secured or improved to access land. It allows the access authority (which is defined in section 1 as the highway authority or, in National Parks, the National Park authority) to seek agreement with landowners for the creation or safeguarding of means of access, or in default of such agreement, to secure the means of access by carrying out any necessary works themselves.

53.     Section 34 defines a means of access for the purposes of this Chapter. It includes an opening in a fence, wall, hedge or gate on the land, or a construction (such as a stile or bridge) which allows the public to cross such a feature or any watercourse.

54.     Section 35 sets out the circumstances in which an access authority may make an agreement with an owner or occupier in relation to means of access on their land. These are where the authority consider that an existing means of access needs to be opened up, improved, repaired or maintained, or a new means of access needs to be constructed. The authority may also make an agreement with a landowner to impose restrictions on any change to an existing means of access. Subsection (2) allows the authority to agree to carry out the works themselves, or to pay for the owner or occupier to do so. The authority may also make payments in consideration of the owner or occupier's agreement to restrictions.

55.     Section 36 sets out the action the authority may take if the owner or occupier fails to carry out his obligations under the agreement. Where the agreement was for the owner or occupier to carry out work to an agreed timetable (or in reasonable time, if no timetable is stipulated in the agreement), the authority may, after giving at least 21 days' notice, carry out the work themselves. The authority may recover any costs incurred less any contribution which they were themselves to make under the agreement.

56.     Where the agreement was for the owner or occupier to observe a restriction, and he fails to abide by that agreement, the authority may serve a notice requiring him to carry out work to remedy the breach of the restriction, within not fewer than 21 days. If the landowner fails to comply with the notice, the authority may carry out any work specified in the notice. Any costs incurred by the authority in carrying out the work may be recovered from the owner or occupier who entered into the agreement.

57.     Section 37 sets out procedures which an access authority may follow if it considers that it cannot enter into an agreement on reasonable terms with a landowner to secure a means of access to the land. It may serve on the owner or occupier a notice stating its intention, after a period of at least 21 days, to carry out work to provide the means of access. The authority must serve a copy of the notice on any other owner or occupier of the land.

58.     Section 38 allows for an appeal to the Secretary of State (or the National Assembly for Wales) against a notice from an access authority alleging the breach of an agreement imposing restrictions (under section 36(3)) or requiring the creation or safeguarding of a means of access (under section 37(1)). The appeal may be made on the grounds that any of the work specified in a notice under section 36(3) is not necessary to remedy the breach of the agreement or has been carried out or requires more time. An appeal against a notice under section 37(1) may be made on the grounds that any of the work specified in the notice is not necessary to secure reasonable public access to the land, has been carried out, that the means of access should be provided elsewhere (for example, because it would be detrimental to the effective management of the land), or that a different means of access should be provided (for example, a gate instead of a stile). The Secretary of State (or the National Assembly for Wales) may confirm the notice with any modifications, or cancel it. The access authority will not be able to carry out any works while they remain the subject of an appeal.

59.     The Secretary of State (or the National Assembly for Wales) may make regulations as to the making of appeals. Sections 7 and 8 (and Schedule 3) apply to the procedure on appeal as they apply to the procedure on appeals against provisional maps.

60.     Where an owner or occupier repeatedly fails to comply with notices served by the access authority, section 39 enables the authority to seek an order from the courts. The section applies where two or more notices under section 36(3) or 37(1) have been served on the owner or occupier within a period of three years, and the period for compliance with those notices has expired. In these circumstances, a magistrates' court may grant an order requiring the owner or occupier to remove any obstruction and to keep the means of access clear. Failure to comply with the order is an offence, attracting a fine on conviction of up to level 3 on the standard scale (currently £1,000). The access authority may also remove any such obstruction at the expense of the offender.

Sections 40 to 46: General

61.     Section 40 concerns powers of entry to land. It may be necessary for the bodies charged with functions under Chapters I to III of Part I of the Act to enter land in order to carry out their functions. The section sets out the circumstances and manner in which the countryside bodies, the highway authorities, the Forestry Commissioners and the National Park authorities may enter land. Any person authorised by these bodies for the purposes of entering land which is not access land must give the occupier 24 hours' notice, unless it is not reasonably practicable to do so, or the entry is in relation to a possible offence under section 14 or 39. He must also produce evidence of his authority at any time. It will be an offence to obstruct access for authorised persons, attracting a fine on conviction of up to level 2 on the standard scale (currently £500). The power of entry does not extend to dwellings.

62.     Section 41 requires a body exercising a power of entry under section 40 to compensate any person who has sustained damage in consequence. Any dispute as to entitlement to compensation is to be determined by an arbitrator appointed by the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales, as appropriate.

63.     Section 42 enables the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales to make regulations to provide that the fact that land is subject to the right of access is to be disregarded in deciding whether the land is or is not a 'public place' for the purposes of a specified enactment. For example, regulations could provide that access land would not be treated as a public place for the purposes of the Firearms Act 1968 merely by virtue of the new statutory right applying to the land, and that the landowner would therefore not need to show "lawful authority or reasonable excuse" to use or carry a firearm on the land.

64.     Section 43 explains that the access legislation binds the Crown as it does any other landowner.

65.     Section 44 provides that orders and regulations made under this Part of the Act are to be made by statutory instrument and as respects England are to be subject to annulment by either House (except that any order made under section 3 extending the right of access in England to coastal land, or under paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 amending the restrictions in paragraphs 1 and 2 of that Schedule, will require to be approved in draft by a resolution of both Houses).

66.     Section 45 comprises definitions of a number of terms used in this Part of the Act.

67.     Section 46 and Part I of Schedule 16 effect repeals consequent on the provisions of Part I. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) provides for the repeal of section 193(2) of the Law of Property Act 1925. Section 193(2) allows the owners of common land to execute a deed of dedication so that the common will become subject to the right of access for air and exercise provided for in section 193(1). This power will be rendered obsolete in view of the new powers to dedicate access over land contained in section 16. Any commencement order bringing this repeal into force is expected to contain a saving for existing deeds.

68.     Paragraph (b) of subsection (1) provides for the repeal of sections 61 to 63 of Part V of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. These sections imposed an obligation on local planning authorities to survey the extent of open country within their areas, and to consider the need for increasing access to such open country by means of access agreements and orders. By virtue of subsection (2), local planning authorities will continue to be able to make access agreements and orders using their powers under Part V of the 1949 Act (as amended by the Countryside Act 1968), other than over land which is open country or registered common land for the purposes of the Act (the powers will continue to apply to open country which comprises woodland, land including or adjacent to rivers or canals, and, pending any order made under section 3, the foreshore).

69. Subsection (3) of section 46 introduces Schedule 4, which includes an amendment of section 193(1) of the Law of Property Act 1925 so that limitations or conditions qualifying the right of access to urban and other commons under the 1925 Act may also be imposed by the Secretary of State (or National Assembly for Wales) for the purpose of nature conservation. Paragraph 4 of Schedule 4 amends section 2(6) of the Countryside Act 1968, so that the duties of the countryside bodies, which include giving advice to local authorities about the use of their byelaw-making powers under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 and the Countryside Act 1968, extend equally to the giving of advice to access authorities about the use of their powers in section 17.

PART II: PUBLIC RIGHTS OF WAY AND ROAD TRAFFIC

Summary

70. Part II of the Act contains provisions designed to reform and improve rights of way in England and Wales.

71. The Act introduces measures for the strategic review, planning and reporting of improvements to rights of way, and the promotion of increased access for people with mobility problems. A new category of right of way - restricted byway - having rights for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and horse drawn vehicles, replaces the current category of Roads Used as Public Paths.

72.     Local authorities are required to have regard to nature conservation when performing some of their rights of way functions. Other environmental safeguards include extended powers to regulate traffic for conservation purposes and new powers to divert rights of way to protect Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).

73.     The Act provides for a cut-off date for the recording of certain rights of way on definitive maps and the extinguishment of those not so recorded by that date. There are provisions for excepting rights of way from extinguishment; for extending the cut-off date; and for making savings for cases where modification orders have been made but not confirmed before the cut-off date, where applications for such orders have been submitted before the cut-off date, and where such orders have been quashed because of a legal error.

74.     The Act gives a new right to certain landowners and occupiers to apply to a local authority for an order to divert or extinguish a footpath or bridleway over their land, and to appeal against refusal. Any resulting order would proceed in accordance with existing legislation which provides for objections to be heard and for a public inquiry or hearing to be held. Proprietors of schools are given similar rights, and local authorities will be able to make orders closing or diverting rights of way for school security reasons and to assist in the prevention of crime in certain areas.

75.     There is provision for occupiers of any land to temporarily divert a footpath or bridleway which passes over that land where works (to be prescribed in regulations made by the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales) are likely to cause danger to users of the right of way.

76.     Stronger measures will be available for dealing with obstructions. Magistrates convicting a person of wilfully obstructing a highway will be able to order the removal of the obstruction. Magistrates will also be able to impose daily fines where the obstruction continues after a person has been convicted of failing to comply with such an order. In addition, any person will be able to serve notice on a local highway authority to secure the removal of certain obstructions, and if necessary to seek a magistrates' court order requiring the authority to comply with the notice.

77. Local authorities will be required to have regard to the needs of disabled people when authorising the erection of gates and other barriers across rights of way to control livestock. In addition, the Act gives authorities power to enter into agreements with owners, lessees or occupiers of land to improve or replace such existing barriers to make them safer or more convenient for disabled people.

78. Local highway authorities' existing powers to provide barriers in footpaths to safeguard the public are widened to allow authorities to erect posts and are extended to apply to bridleways which are maintainable at the public expense.

79. The unauthorised driving off-road of mechanically propelled vehicles becomes an offence and the existing offence of driving on a footpath or bridleway is extended to apply to restricted byways. For the purposes of the new offence there is provision to the effect that where a way is shown on a definitive map as a footpath, bridleway or restricted byway, it is presumed not to carry full vehicular rights unless the contrary is proved.

80.     Part II also contains provisions relating to the grant of statutory easements for vehicular access over land (including common land) on which it is an offence to drive a vehicle.

Background

81. The Government's intention to legislate on rights of way was announced on 8 March 1999 in The Government's Framework for Action: Access to the Countryside in England & Wales. The Government's consultation paper on rights of way, Improving Rights of Way in England and Wales ⁹, was published in July 1999. The responses are summarised in a report: Improving Rights of Way in England and Wales: Analysis of Responses ¹⁰.

9 Published by the DETR, September 1998. Available free of charge from: DETR Free Literature, PO Box 236, Wetherby LS23 7NB. Tel. 0870 1226236, Fax. 0870 1226237

10 Published by DETR March 2000 (Full Report): Price £12 product code 99WACD1034. Available from DETR Publication Sale Centre, Goldthorpe Industrial Estate, Goldthorpe, Rotherham, S63 9DL. Tel. 01709 891318, Fax. 01709 881673. A summary document is available free of charge from: DETR Free literature, PO Box 236, Wetherby LS23 7NB. Tel. 0870 1226236, Fax. 0870 1226237. Published on the internet at: http://www.wildlife-countryside.detr.gov.uk/cl/index.htm

Commentary on sections

Sections 47 to 52: Definitive Maps and Statements and Restricted Byways

82.     Currently, surveying authorities (normally the unitary authority, or the county council where there are two tiers of local government) are required to prepare and keep under review their definitive map and statement(s). These form the legal record of public rights of way in their area. The existing classes of public rights of way covered by these maps and statements are:

• Footpaths: highways over which there is a public right of way on foot only.

• Bridleways: highways over which pedestrians, horse riders and bicyclists (who must give way to people on foot or on horseback) have public rights of way. A bridleway may also carry a public right to drive animals.

• Byways open to all traffic (BOATs): highways over which the public right of way is for vehicles and all other kinds of traffic, but which are used mainly for the purposes for which footpaths and bridleways are used.

• Roads Used as Public Paths (RUPPs): an earlier classification used for various kinds of highway. Section 54 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 requires surveying authorities to review all RUPPs appearing on their definitive maps and reclassify them according to the rights which are found to exist. If vehicular rights are shown to exist over a RUPP then it should be reclassified as a byway open to all traffic. If no vehicular rights are shown to exist, a RUPP should be reclassified as a bridleway, unless bridleway rights are shown not to exist, in which case it should be reclassified as a footpath.

83. Sections 47 and 48 provide for a general redesignation of RUPPs, which are instead to be treated as shown in definitive maps and statements as restricted byways. All RUPPs will become restricted byways (defined in section 48) unless they already carry full vehicular rights of way and surveying authorities will be relieved of their current duty to reclassify RUPPs. Anyone with evidence of full vehicular rights over a particular way will still be entitled to apply for an order for its reclassification in the map and statement as a BOAT.

84. Section 47 repeals section 54 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and provides that every road used as a public path which is shown in a definitive map and statement is to be treated as shown as a restricted byway.

85. Section 48 specifies that the public is to have restricted byway rights over ways shown in a definitive map and statement as RUPPs. It sets out what those rights are and stipulates that the existence of those rights is without prejudice to other rights, including public rights of way for mechanically propelled vehicles. It also requires that the relevant commencement orders made under section 103 preserve pre-commencement orders, and applications for orders, modifying the status of a RUPP so that they will be processed to a final determination.

86. Section 49 provides for the RUPPs affected by provisions in section 48 to be highways maintainable at the public expense. Private liabilities to maintain RUPPs over which restricted byway rights are created and which do not carry full vehicular rights are extinguished. Section 49 also provides for those RUPPs reclassified under section 54 of the 1981 Act, and earlier legislation, to remain maintainable at the public expense. It also sets out that highway authorities are not to be obliged to provide metalled or similar surfaces on former RUPPs merely because they have been re-designated as restricted byways or BOATs.

87. Section 50 ensures that the conditions or limitations to which a RUPP was dedicated, such as a right to erect a gate on it or plough its surface, shall continue to be exercisable. It also provides a vehicular right of access to certain owners of property adjoining or adjacent to former RUPPs.

88. Section 51 introduces Schedule 5, which contains amendments relating to definitive maps and statements and restricted byways. Paragraph 1 makes consequential amendments to section 53 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It also allows for evidence of full vehicular rights over a way shown as a restricted byway which has already been considered by a surveying authority to constitute the basis of an application to have such a way shown as a byway open to all traffic. Paragraph 2 makes an amendment of a procedural nature relating to the circumstances in which the definitive map and statement can be modified when a legal event has occurred. The new section 53A inserted in the 1981 Act makes it possible for surveying authorities to include in those orders which are prescribed by regulation provision to modify the definitive map and statement. Regulation making powers are provided, for example, to set out how the relevant date is to be determined in the case of such orders and to regulate the procedure governing the new power.

89. Paragraph 2 also inserts a new section 53B into the 1981 Act requiring surveying authorities to keep a register of applications made under section 53(5) of that Act. Paragraph 3 provides for transitional arrangements for modifying the definitive map between enactment and the commencement of section 47 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000.

90. Paragraph 4 of Schedule 5 inserts a new section 54A into the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. The new section prevents any order being made after the cut-off date (1 January 2026) to record a BOAT on a definitive map except in the place of any other way already recorded in the definitive map. The new section also empowers the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales to make regulations containing transitional provisions and for extending the cut-off date.

91. Paragraph 5 amends section 55 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to provide that certain roads used as public paths that had been reclassified under the provisions of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 become maintainable at the public expense.

92. Paragraph 7 widens the power of the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales to make regulations prescribing the scale of definitive maps to cover all maps made under Part III of the Wildlife and Countryside 1981. In addition, paragraph 7 amends section 57 of the 1981 Act to empower the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales to make regulations requiring surveying authorities to keep, and make available to the public and other local authorities, documents relating to the status of rights of way.

93. Paragraph 8 empowers surveying authorities to consolidate their definitive maps, incorporating any parts of maps inherited from other authorities following local government boundary changes. Maps may not be consolidated if any orders required to record changes made to an authority's rights of way are outstanding. Surveying authorities are required to keep, and make available to the public, copies of all maps which are superseded by a consolidated map.

94. Paragraph 10 of Schedule 5 amends Schedule 14 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to enable the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales, when directing an authority to make an order on appeal, to set a deadline by which the order should be made.

95. Paragraph 11 of Schedule 5 amends Schedule 15 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It inserts a new paragraph 7(2A) into the Schedule to give the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales discretion as to whether to hold an inquiry or hearing into a definitive map modification order if the only objection(s) relate to an issue which would not be relevant in determining whether or not to confirm an order. A new paragraph 10A applies to hearings into disputed orders certain provisions in section 250 of the Local Government Act 1972 relating to the summonsing of witnesses and the award of costs which currently apply only to public inquiries under Schedule 15. It also enables the Inspector holding a hearing or inquiry to award costs and enables costs to be awarded when a hearing or inquiry does not take place.

96. Schedule 5 also contains, in Part II, amendments relating to the provisions in sections 47 to 50 creating the new category of public right of way, "restricted byway", in place of ways presently recorded on definitive maps as RUPPs. The amendments mainly provide for legislation which applies to RUPPs to apply instead to restricted byways.

97. Section 52 enables the Secretary of State to make regulations providing for any existing legislation applying to highways, or to highways of a particular kind (such as footpaths or bridleways) to apply, or to be excluded from applying, to restricted byways or ways shown in a definitive map and statement as restricted byways. This power could, for example, be used to enable new restricted byways to be created. There is also power to make consequential amendments. When making these regulations, the Secretary of State is required to consult the National Assembly for Wales before making provision which affects Wales and to obtain the Assembly's consent before expressly amending or revoking secondary legislation made by the Assembly. Section 52 also empowers the National Assembly for Wales to make regulations amending certain classes of legislation relating to Wales to take account of restricted byways. These classes are: any local or private Act passed before or in the same session as this Act and relating only to Wales; and, any secondary legislation made before enactment of this Act which the Assembly has the power to amend or revoke as respects Wales. The Assembly may also submit to the Secretary of State proposals for amendments or repeals to be made by him using his own regulation-making powers.