Recording Rights of Way on Definitive Maps – Estimated 10,000 Delays Across England
Tuesday 28 February 2023 is the fortieth anniversary of the commencement of Part III of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, legislation forged to improve the efficiency of the ground-breaking definitive map legislation introduced by the post war Attlee Government. The ambition of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 was to correctly record all rights of way on a "Definitive Map" with details of each recorded in an accompanying statement and to provide for it to be reviewed on a five yearly basis. The 1949 Act and its 1981 successor is a project of immense public value in providing certainty about the recording of public rights. In practical terms it also removes the settlement of disputes about the existence of rights of ways from prohibitively expensive court cases to a quasi-judicial process overseen in the first instance by local authorities. The reforms introduced by the 1981 Act were developed in the face of a backl...