8.1.1
Public Rights of Way (PRoW) are Highways, therefore they are Streets as defined by the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991. This is true whether or not the PRoW has any physical representation in the real world. An LSG must include all PRoWs because all Streets must be in the NSG.
8.1.2
Currently there are three different sets of legislation covering the recording of Highways. These are:
- The List of Streets under Section 36 of the Highways Act 1980.
- The National Street Gazetteer under the codes of practice for the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991.
- The Definitive Map and Definitive Statement of Public Rights of Way under section 48 of the Countryside and Rights of Way (CROW)Act 2000 and section 53 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
- The requirement to produce a Public Rights of Way Definitive Map exists for all of England and Wales from of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, except for the 12 Inner London boroughs as defined in the London Government Act 1963, the City of London Corporation and the Isles of Scilly.
The long-term aspiration is to move to a single electronic recording method for this information, preferably by an evolutionary process. The NSG is ideally placed to be that method, and it is expected that this guidance will develop to reflect that process.
8.1.3
Under current legislation, certain types of Highway, such as Cycle Tracks, All Vehicles and Motorways, cannot be recorded as PRoWs. Therefore, in this Reference Manual the term PRoW is defined in the same way as it is in section 66 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and section 48 (4) of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, as four types recordable on the Definitive Map:
- A Public Footpath.
- A Public Bridleway.
- A Byway open to all traffic (BOAT).
- A Restricted Byway.
8.1.4
The CROW Act 2000 is set to introduce a cut-off date of 1st January 2026, (not yet in force, as of April 2019) to bring some certainty to users of the countryside and landowners about what rights exist. After this date, it will not be possible to apply for Footpaths, Bridleways or higher rights to be included on the Definitive Map purely based upon historical documentary evidence (historical is classed as pre-1949). Thus, after this date it will only be possible to claim rights based on user evidence.
8.1.5
Section 54 of CROW Act 2000 prescribes that the Secretary of State shall make regulations (under the Deregulation Act 2015) as to which Highways are exempted from the cut-off date of 1st January 2026 (not yet in force, as of April 2019) that will extinguish Footpaths and Bridleways not recorded on the Definitive Map. Following the recommendation of the 2010 Stakeholder Working Group (report NECR035), it is anticipated that LSGs will form one of the data sets used to protect Highways from extinguishment.
8.1.6
The Natural Environment and Rural Communities (NERC) Act 2006 extinguished every Public Right of Way for mechanically propelled vehicles unless that Public Right of Way:
- was already shown on a Definitive Map and Statement as a Byway Open to All Traffic (BOAT) or
- was subject to one of several exemptions contained in sections 67(2) or 67(3). These include:
- the right to use motorised vehicles had come into existence prior to 1930,
- that the way was on the List of Streets on the qualifying day, and
- if the main use in the period of 5 years before 11th May 2006 was by motorised vehicles.
The uncertainty caused by these criteria for exception is one of the reasons that the NSG was recommended for future legislation.
8.1.7
Although the NSG must contain a representation of all PRoW types it does not override or replace the paper Definitive Map and Definitive Statement which Surveying Authorities are required to maintain under Section 53 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.