Clause 62 - Ending of certain existing unrecorded public rights of way
Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill
2:30 pm
Jim Knight (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Rural Affairs, Landscape and Biodiversity), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; South Dorset, Labour)
It is a difficult situation. I want to end the abuse of the countryside by irresponsible drivers and riders of mechanically propelled vehicles, about which we have talked. I want therefore to extinguish the historical rights about which we all agree. I want to do that in as practical and pragmatic a way as I can, so that the process works. When we have completed it, we will still find ourselves with some problems, because those rights will have been successfully asserted. Local authorities will then have the power, and they will have the responsibility to consider the use of those powers to resolve those problems locally.