* means the provision came into effect on 30 January 2001 (but may be awaiting regulations).

Any person is entitled … to enter and remain on any access land for the purposes of open-air recreation…. So says section (s) 2(1) of CROW, which applies to England and Wales. Access land is land which appears to the countryside body (Countryside Agency (CA) and Countryside Council for Wales(CCW)) to consist wholly or predominantly of mountain, moor, heath or down and registered common land (s1(2)*).

There are no definitions yet of moor, heath and down but the CA will soon consult on these before carrying out pilot mapping. Wales is being mapped separately.

Registered common land is land shown finally on the common registers. Even if such land is deregistered it will remain common land within the meaning of the Act (thus the access rights will not encourage landowners to deregister commons).

The provisions of the Act can be extended to coastal land by order of parliament (s3*), and any landowner can dedicate his land for the purposes of the Act (s16*).

There are exceptions to the access land, listed in schedule 1*, for example land on which the soil has been ploughed or drilled within the last 12 months for planting or sowing of trees and crops, land within 20 metres of a dwelling, land subject to military bylaws. The land will be mapped as access land but the right will not apply there.

Schedule 2 contains a list of banned activities. Some are already criminal offences, but they all make the person a trespasser and he may be ordered off the land and not allowed to return to any access land in the same ownership for the next 72 hours. The list of restrictions is similar to that in the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. It also includes a ban on dogs off the lead between 1 March and 31 July and, at any time of year, in the vicinity of livestock (and the lead must be of fixed length and not more than two metres).

The countryside bodies have a duty to map all the access land (s4*), though they need not show areas which they consider to be so small as to serve no useful purpose, and they can alter the boundary to coincide with a physical feature. They will issue a draft map and consider representations on it (s5*), then issue a provisional map (s6*), against which only those with an interest in the land may appeal to the Secretary of State (SoS) or National Assembly for Wales (NAW). Schedule 3* sets out the arrangements for appeals. The map then becomes conclusive (s 9*) and only then do we have the right to walk on the land.

We do not yet know whether the maps will become conclusive all at once or region by region, or whether the government will take advantage of the opportunity in the Act to confirm the access to registered common land and land over 600 metres (which does not need to be mapped) ahead of the rest. Naturally, we want as much legal access as soon as possible. The maps will be reviewed every ten years.

S13 reduces the liability of occupiers of access land to the same level as would be owed to trespassers and it further reduces liability so that occupiers owe no liability for risks arising from natural feature of the landscape, any river, stream, ditch, pond, wall, fence or gate. However, liability is not excluded in any of these circumstances if the risk arises from anything done intentionally or recklessly by the occupier.

It is an offence to display a notice containing false or misleading information on or near access land, likely to deter the exercise of the new right (s14).

S17* gives a power to make bylaws on access land (but not affecting rights of way crossing the land) and access authorities (local and national park authorities) may appoint wardens (s18) and erect notices indicating the boundaries of access land (s19*). The countryside bodies must issue a code of conduct for users and people with an interest in the land (s20).

There are provisions for closing the land or restricting access to it. Access can be restricted to specified routes, or be exercisable only after entering the land at a specified place, or only by people who do not take dogs or who satisfy other specified conditions (s21*).

Anyone with an interest in the land may, by giving notice to the relevant authority (countryside body or national park authority), exclude or restrict access to land on up to 28 days a year (s22*). He may subdivide his land so that the exclusion or restriction can be carried out for 28 days on each part.

Owners of moor ‘managed for the breeding and shooting of grouse’ may exclude dogs from the land for up to five years, and owners of land used for lambing may exclude dogs for up to six weeks a year (s23*). Anyone with an interest in the land may apply to the relevant authority for exclusions or restrictions for ‘land management’ (s24*).

The relevant authority may exclude or restrict access to avoid fire risk (s25*) and, on the advice of the relevant advisory body, restrict access for nature conservation or heritage preservation (s26*). The SoS may exclude or restrict access for defence or national security (s28*). Those with an interest in the land may appeal against the refusal to make a closure or restriction (s30*). The details of closures and restrictions will follow in guidance.

Means of access is defined as an opening in a wall, fence or hedge, stairs or steps, or bridge or other works for crossing a watercourse etc (s34*).

An access authority may make an agreement with an owner or occupier to provide a means of access to access land, where an authority considers a means of access to be necessary (s35*). It can carry out the work itself or pay the owner or occupier to do so. If the owner or occupier fails to carry out his obligations the authority may do the work itself and recover any costs (s36*).

In the absence of an agreement, where an authority considers a means of access should be created or improved, it may serve a notice and do the work and recover the costs (s37*). Where two or more notices relating to a means of access have been given to any person within the preceding 36 months, the person may be taken to court (s39*).

All roads used as public paths (RUPPs) become ‘restricted byways’ unless they already carry full vehicular rights of way. Thus surveying authorities (county and unitary councils) are relieved of the burden of reclassifying RUPPs. Anyone with evidence of full vehicular rights can still apply for an order to reclassify the RUPP as a byway open to all traffic (BOAT) (ss47 - 52 and schedule 5).

Lost ways. There is a cut-off date of 1 January 2026 when all footpaths and bridleways that were in existence prior to 1949 and that are not at that date on the definitive map will be extinguished and public rights removed. There are some classes of exceptions. The fact that a claim under WCA 81 may have been made is not one of the exceptions and claims will not prevent this extinguishment, but the CROW Act does allow that rule, and the cut-off date itself, to be altered by Statutory Instrument if parliament agrees.

The effect of this is that pre-1949 paths which fail to get onto the definitive map by the cut-off date (for example due to overload of the surveying authority) will require fresh dedications or a fresh 20-year period (2046) to be able to get on the definitive map.
(ss53 - 56).
 

Schedule 5 permits surveying authorities to make combined public path and legal event definitive map modification orders (DMMOs); they are required to keep, for public inspection, registers of applications for DMMOs made under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 section 53, and they can prepare consolidated definitive maps (helpful where there have been local government boundary changes).

The schedule also requires anyone objecting to a DMMO to specify the grounds of his objection, and allows the Secretary of State or National Assembly for Wales to confirm an order without an inquiry where the objections are irrelevant.

Under s57 and schedule 6, owners and occupiers of land used for agriculture, forestry and the breeding and keeping of horses have a right to apply for closure or diversion orders across that land. An authority has to decide within four months whether to proceed, otherwise the applicant can appeal to the SoS for a direction to the council to determine the application. The council must give the applicant the reasons for its decision.

Certain areas may be designated by the Secretary of State by order for the purposes of crime prevention. In such areas, it is possible to divert or close paths if the highway authority is satisfied that it is expedient, to prevent or reduce crime which would otherwise disrupt the life of the community. The authority must be satisfied that premises adjoining or adjacent to the highway are affected by high levels of crime and that the existence of the highway is facilitating the persistent commission of criminal offences.

They may also close or divert any highway which crosses school land if it is expedient, to protect the pupils or staff from violence or the threat of violence, harassment, alarm or distress arising from unlawful activity or any other risk to their health or safety arising from such activity. The proprietor of a school may apply for an order.

In the case of extinguishment orders, they must be satisfied that there is no reasonably convenient alternative route or, where there is no such route, whether it would be reasonably practicable to divert the highway rather than close it.

The public can object to such orders and cause a public inquiry to be held.

English Nature and the Countryside Council for Wales may apply for sites of special scientific interest (SSSI) diversion orders. In such cases, where it appears to the highway authority that public use of a footpath, bridleway or restricted byway which forms part of, or is adjacent to, an SSSI is causing, or is likely to cause significant damage to the flora, fauna etc, and that it is expedient that the highway be diverted, it may make an order.

The public may object, but the usual grounds for objecting to a diversion order (such as that the diversion is ‘substantially less convenient to the public’) do not apply.

Where works of a prescribed description are likely to cause danger to users of a footpath or bridleway, the occupier may temporarily divert part or all of the path for up to 14 days in any one calendar year. He must give at least 14 days notice to the highway authority and at least seven days notice in the local paper and dispay notices on site.

There is a new criterion for creation orders under section 26 of the Highways Act 1980, that the path will enable the public to obtain access to any access land. Such orders may be made by the countryside bodies (s58*).

Highway authorities are required, within five years, to publish a rights-of-way improvement plan (s60), to be reviewed every ten years. The authority must assess the extent to which local rights of way meet the present and likely future needs of the public, the opportunities provided by local rights of way for exercise and other forms of open-air recreation and enjoyment and the accessibility of local rights of way to disabled people. The authorities must consult widely before preparing or reviewing the plan.

Any person may serve notice on a highway authority to remove certain types of obstruction from any highway (s63). Such obstructions unfortunately exclude buildings (temporary or permanent) and any other structure which is designed, adapted or used for human habitation; ploughing and crops.

S64* enables a magistrate, on finding someone guilty of obstruction, to require that the obstruction be removed, in addition to, or instead of, a fine. S65* enables local authorities to require owners or occupiers of land to cut back vegetation which overhangs highways to the inconvenience or danger of horse-riders.

S66* allows traffic regulation orders to be made for conserving natural beauty. S67* and schedule 7*, among other things, extend the offence to drive a motor vehicle, without lawful authority on a footpath and bridleway to mechanically-propelled vehicles such as scrambler and quad bikes. It is also an offence to drive a mechanically-propelled vehicle on a way shown on a definitive map as a footpath, bridleway or restricted byway unless the person prosecuted can prove that vehicular rights exist or show that driving was necessary to reach premises as an owner, occupier, lessee or lawful visitor, or for business.

S68 covers vehicular access across common land.

S69 amends s147 of the Highways Act 1980 so that highway authorities, when authorising gates, stiles or other works on rights of way, must have regard to the needs of people with mobility problems. They may also enter into agreements with owners or occupiers to replace or alter existing barriers to make them safer or more convenient for people with mobility problems.

S70 give a new right to the public to prosecute for failure to reinstate a ploughed path.

Part III gives greater protection to wildlife and natural features by providing for the conservation of biological diversity and by improving protection of SSSIs and the enforcement of wildlife legislation. Part IV provides for the better management and protection of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs).

Every AONB will have to publish a management plan. The SoS or NAW may establish conservation boards for individual AONBs. Relevant authorities will have to have regard to the purpose of conserving and enhancing the natural beauty of the AONB.

S94* places a duty on highway authorities and national park authorities to establish local access fora to advise relevant authorities on ‘the improvement of public access to land in that area for the purposes of open-air recreation and the enjoyment of the area’. Regulations will set out the arrangements. The fora will be consulted on such matters as the draft access maps and the rights-of-way improvement plans.

S96 gives the countryside bodies and AONB conservation board a new power to make management agreements, under s39 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in urban and rural areas. This will enable them to make long-term agreements, for example with landowners to dedicate land for access under s16 of CROW, or to secure the long-term future of millennium greens.

S97 places a duty on public bodies to have regard to conserving and enhancing the natural beauty of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads and of promoting their enjoyment, thus bringing them in line with national parks.

S98* alters the definition of town and village greens to make it easier to register land as ‘new greens’.

The Act, explanatory notes and DETR circular 4/2001 can be obtained from The Stationery Office (£15.55, £7..95 and £5.75 respectively), or from the DETR website: www.wildlife-countryside.detr.gov.uk/cl/index.htm