Clause 62 - Ending of certain existing unrecorded public rights of way
Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill
1:15 pm
James Paice (Shadow Minister (Agriculture), Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
Welcome back to the Chair, Mrs. Anderson.
Like the Minister, I share the view that clause 62 is by far the most important clause in this part of the Bill. What it seeks to do—as a simple man, I paraphrase for simplicity—is ensure that if a right of way is not approved for mechanically propelled vehicles, it cannot be approved after the date of commencement. That is unless one is a landowner or lawful visitor to that land—a land-user—or if a right is specifically created under subsection (2). That is a simplistic way of expressing the meaning of the clause, but it is a paraphrase of what is being proposed.
The issue was debated widely on Second Reading. Virtually everyone who spoke then referred to the proposal and all of them did so supportively. Not only that but everyone, from both sides of the House, expressed the same concern about the date of commencement. That point was made from all quarters. The clear sense of the House was that the matter was urgent.
This morning, the hon. Member for Bridgend referred to information that we have now all received from the Green Lanes Protection Group. It gives some worrying statistics. It refers to the fact that, in Hampshire in the first five months of 2005, there have been 74 claims to establish a BOAT, compared with only six such claims in the whole of 2004. Half the new claims have been made by the Trail Riders Fellowship. In Somerset, 134 claims are in progress, compared with 13 previously outstanding. In Derbyshire, there have been 80 claims since December 2003. In the Lake district, 50 plus application packs have recently been requested by the Trail Riders Fellowship. The situation is similar in the Yorkshire dales. I am sure that every county with such rights of way will face a similar number of claims. The point that hon. Members were making is that because the Government flagged up this proposal a long way in advance, everyone who wanted to establish a right for mechanically propelled vehicles understandably rushed to do so before the Bill closed that option.
As hon. Members and the Minister have said, there is a serious problem because some—but only some—users of rights of way for mechanically propelled vehicles abuse that right. They make too much mess, show disregard for other users and, as I said on Second Reading, want the ground to be churned up and turned into mud because that is more exciting. That does not apply to everyone; some simply want to go for a ride in the country and a green lane is good place to do so. However, sadly, those who just want a pleasant ride in the country are being seriously affected by the behaviour of others.
I know that the Government and the previous Minister, the right hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth, had long consultation, including with the user groups, to try to find a way forward. The Minister may tell us that those discussions are ongoing, but the reality is that we need a law to back them up. Even if an agreement can be reached with the Trail Riders Fellowship, the Land Access and Recreation Association or one of the other user groups, that would not require compliant behaviour by anyone else. Once a right of way is established for mechanically propelled vehicles, it is open to anyone who wants to go roaring up and down it. If they are not members of an organisation, there is nothing, as the law stands, to stop them doing so and chewing it up.
I am a basically a libertarian in my attitude to life and do not want to stop people doing things, but I and my party have reluctantly come to the view that we must stop what is going on, as the Government are doing. There are better ways of providing land for the use of mechanically propelled vehicles, such as the way I touched on during an earlier debate with the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnorshire. Individual landowners could provide facilities or many landowners working together could do that. We already have the concept of permissive paths whereby people can create a footpath out of the goodness of their heart, and I cannot understand why they could not create similar paths and allow mechanically propelled vehicles to use them.