Breadcrumbs
NCAF 12/2 Rights of Way Historical Research - discovering lost ways
2. This paper sets out the Countryside Agency's approach to facilitating research by the voluntary sector through the 'Discovering Lost Ways' project, and invites the National Countryside Access Forum to comment on this work.
Background
3. Public rights of way are a very important means through which people have access to the English countryside. They provide an important resource for many kinds of recreation and to some extent provide an off road alternative for local journeys. Since the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 surveying authorities have had a statutory duty to make a legal record of rights of way on the definitive map and statement. Progress has varied across the country. The majority of authorities have not completed the process.
4. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 makes provisions which will (with some exceptions) extinguish in 25 years time footpaths and bridleways which were in existence before 1949 but are not by that time recorded on the definitive map. Unrecorded higher rights that may apply to definitive footpaths, bridleways and restricted byways will also be extinguished. In addition, it will not be possible to add byways open to all traffic to the definitive map after that date, although public rights will not be extinguished.
5. The Government is providing £2.75 million to the Agency between 2001 and 2004 for the establishment of an efficient system of research and to help voluntary organisations and individuals to carry out research to re-discover those historic public rights of way that have, so far, not been recorded on the definitive map.
6. Highway authorities will be provided with funding separately directly from government for any 'new burdens' created by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act, including processing of increased numbers of claims generated by the cut off date provision.
The Discovering Lost Ways Project
7. The Agency will provide funding for researching historic rights of way through a project called 'Discovering Lost Ways' which will use the allocated funding to stimulate research of historic rights of way. The project has two phases; phase 1 (covering England and Wales) will provide the Agency and the Countryside Council for Wales with advice on the likely extent of unrecorded historic rights, the numbers of existing researchers with appropriate expertise, and options for managing and distributing the funding. Phase 2 (at present planned only for England) will put in place sustainable systems and processes to ensure that funding is directed towards research in a cost effective way and to provide support such as training and information.
8. We have appointed a consortium led by Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education to carry out the first phase for us, reporting in February 2002. We have also set up an advisory group (comprising of representatives of Countryside Council for Wales, British Horse Society, LARA (Land and Recreation Association), Ramblers Association, Country Land and Business Association, Institute of Public Rights of Way Officers, and DEFRA) to help us assess the methods recommended for use and to scrutinise the other findings from this stage of the work.
Estimated extent of unrecorded rights of way.
9. In 1999, a study commissioned by the County Surveyors Society estimated that if all the unrecorded rights that surveying authorities already know about were to be confirmed it would increase the rights of way network by 4%. This figure is likely to be an underestimate since research of historical documents is not complete and the figure did not include unrecorded higher rights over existing paths. It is difficult to arrive at an accurate figure, but we believe that in some areas of the country a reasonable estimate of the full extent of unrecorded rights is possible, based on the knowledge of those already researching historic rights of way as well as highway authorities. The contractors are improving the quality of the estimate by overlaying modern 1:25,000 mapping with the first revision of the OS county series mapping in a sample of 1,000 km of England and Wales. This is a process often used as a reference point for assessing claims.
Progress by highway authorities towards the National Target for all paths to be legally defined.
10. The National Target for rights of way set by the Countryside Commission in 1987 challenged highway authorities to have all rights of way legally defined, properly maintained and well publicised by the Year 2000. We will obtain an assessment of the quality of the legal record at the end of 2000 through this project, which will complement other studies on the 'properly maintained' and 'well publicised' elements of the National Target.
11. The contractors will give us figures on the number of authorities with consolidated definitive maps and when the remainder expect to consolidate their maps. They will also estimate the number of orders that will be required to add all unrecorded rights to the definitive map, the dates by which each authority expects to have any excluded areas within its boundaries covered by a definitive map, and the number of outstanding 'anomalies' on definitive maps. The contractors will also advise on what capacity there will be for highway authorities to process claims for historic rights generated by the cut off date provisions in the CROW Act.
Assessment of the human resource available to carry out research.
12. The number of researchers currently active in this field is fairly limited. The contractors will provide us with an advice about existing numbers, the numbers likely to be required and how we might make best use of and, if necessary, supplement that resource.
Advice on management options, monitoring and dissemination of funding
13. The Agency has asked the contractors to consider the options for the effective and efficient distribution and use of available funding. We will choose the option which makes the maximum budget available to researchers and which enables claims to be pursued in an effective way, taking account of the priority that highway authorities are able or likely to give to the processing claims submitted to them.
Provision of training, advice and information
14. Researchers will benefit from support - including training. We have asked for advice on the scale of formal and informal training and information requirements which could be made available nationally or regionally (perhaps using the Internet for some elements).
Prioritisation and co-ordination of research
15. We will need to target funding and prioritise research to make sure that the project provides public benefit in terms of overall improvement of the rights of way network. The contractors will advise us on the best way of doing this, perhaps by targeting particular geographical areas, landscapes or regions, or focusing on particular types of route. They will also advise us on the best way of ensuring that there is not duplication of research on a particular route.
Making best use of archive material
16. Researchers will need good access to archive material which at present is difficult to find - perhaps because it has not been indexed or recorded or is in a fragile state. Archive offices are not always open at convenient times, or they may be located in distant towns, and researchers often have to visit more than one archive office to look at documents. There is potential to help make archive material more readily available and the contractors are consulting archivists to provide us with advice on how to do this.
Common standards for historical research
17. We need to be confident that the work of researchers will meet an adequate standard. The contractors have been asked to draft exemplar standards which are acceptable to volunteer researchers, land managers, highway authorities, user groups, DEFRA and the planning inspectorate. These standards will build on existing guidance and good practice and introduce new information such as case law where appropriate.
