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Dept for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

Answer

Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) if she will make a statement on progress on the mapping exercise under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 in (a) Gloucestershire and (b) England; [189654] (2) what the procedures are under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 for the operation of the mapping exercise in relation to (a) the original maps, (b) subsequent recommendations on access by members of the public and (c) appeals against such recommendations by landowners, with particular reference to (i) access to information and (ii) timescales; [189655] (3) what the reasons were for allowing recommendations made by members of the general public to the original mapping exercise undertaken under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to be submitted anonymously; and what the arrangements were for landowners to respond to these. [189656] Alun Michael: The Act requires the Countryside Agency to produce maps in three stages: first by draft map, second the provisional map and finally the conclusive map of open country (mountain, moor, heath and down) and registered common land in England. Following the issue of a draft map a period of three months is allowed for anyone to make representations to the agency if they think land was incorrectly mapped, or wrongly left off. The agency take all valid representations into consideration before issuing the provisional map. After the issue of a provisional map there is a three-month period during which anyone with a legal interest in land can exercise a formal right of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, which determines appeals on behalf of the Secretary of State. Once appeals have been determined, the agency publishes a conclusive map. The Countryside Agency undertook an extensive programme to inform the public and landowners about the mapping process. Notices were placed in regional papers to inform the public of the issue of the draft and provisional maps. Press releases were issued to national and regional newspapers. A series of road-show events took place throughout each mapping region following the issue of the draft maps. The draft and provisional maps were sent to an office of every local authority (county, district, unitary, and the National Park Authority where appropriate) and selected libraries. All parish councils were supplied with both a draft and a provisional map covering their parish. Both local authority offices and parish councils were contacted about their functions under the Act, and were provided with a range of leaflets and distribution material for the purposes of the consultation. The representations to the Countryside Agency on draft maps had to be made either on a paper or electronic version of a comments form provided by the agency, or in a written form which included all the elements of the comment form that had to be completed. This included the name and address of the person submitting the comment. The agency did not accept anonymous representations. Details of those who had commented on a specific parcel of land were provided to landowners who submitted an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. For the purposes of the mapping exercise under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, South Gloucestershire falls into area 3 (Central Southern) for which the conclusive map was published on 28 September. The rest of Gloucestershire falls into area 7 (West) for which the provisional map was issued on 20 May and the conclusive map will be issued in due course. The current status of the mapping process in England is: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Area Status Area 1--South East Conclusive map published 4 May 2004 Area 2--Lower North West Conclusive map published 2 June 2004 Area 3--Central Southern Conclusive map published 28 September 2004 Area 4--Upper North West Provisional map published 19 August 2003 Area 5--North East Provisional map published 20 November 2003 Area 6--South West Provisional map published 4 March 2004 Area 7--West Provisional map published 20 May 2004 Area 8--East Provisional map published 7 June 2004 _________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

425 c952-3W; 189654;189655;189656

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Access Countryside Maps Rights of way Gloucestershire Digital mapping

Legislation

Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk