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We are delighted that the Senedd has repealed the 2026 cut-off date for public rights of way in Wales[1].
The Legislation (Procedure, Publication and Repeals) (Wales) Act 2025, which contains this provision[2], won royal assent on 10 July.
Riders and cyclist on Epynt Way, Powys. Photo: British Horse Society
The Welsh Government had included these repeal provisions in a consultation draft of the Bill in 2022, but then withdrew them following Defra Ministers’ u-turns in relation to implementation of the cut-off in England.
When the Westminster government promised on boxing day 2024 to reinstate the repeal, the society sought the assistance of the Senedd’s Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee to ask the Minister to restore the provision to the Bill on Wales. Both the committee and the Minister responded favourably, and now the amended Bill has become law.
Says Kate Ashbrook, our general secretary: ‘The society is proud to have been able to influence this outcome, which is of long-term benefit to the people of Wales.
‘This will save countless unrecorded paths from extinction. It would have been impossible for volunteers in Wales to apply for all the missing paths by 1 January 2026, and the local authorities, which have growing backlogs of claims to process, would have been overwhelmed.
‘It is vital that we still research and apply for lost ways, as unrecorded paths are at immense risk, but at least in Wales we are not working to a deadline.
‘Now we need the Westminster government to fulfil its boxing-day promise and legislate swiftly to repeal the cut off in England,’ Kate declares.
Notes
[1] The provisions are contained in sections 53–56 of, and para 4 of Schedule 5 to, the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. The provisions have not yet been brought into force in Wales (in England, the provisions have been brought into force, but with the cut-off date set back to 1 January 2031). These provisions would extinguish rights of way which were not recorded on definitive maps and statements at the cut-off date.
[2]The repeal of the 2026 provisions is effected by section 4 of, and Part 15 of Schedule 1 to, the 2025 Act. Repeal is affected by amending the provisions in the 2000 Act so that they apply only to rights of way in England.