Scroll down for the supplement to Chapter 12.
Links and downloads referred to in the text of Chapter 12
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| 304 | Equivalent Welsh provisions | link |
| 311 | Guidance on Local Access Forums in England (Defra, revised 2009) | download |
| 328 | By all reasonable means : inclusive access to the outdoors for disabled people (Countryside Agency, CA215) | link |
| 328 | Code of Practice - Rights of Access: services to the public, public authority functions, private clubs and premises (Disability Rights Commission) | link |
| 328 | Complaint about the Council? (Local Government Ombudsman) | link |
| 328 | Countryside for All Good Practice Guide extended CD edition (Fieldfare Trust) | link |
| 328 | Cross Compliance guidance 2011 (Rural Payments Agency) | link |
| 328 | Disability Discrimination Act 1995 : guidance issued by the Secretary of State on matters to be taken into account in determining questions relating to the definition of disability (Department for Work and Pensions) | link |
| 328 | Full Guidance on Local Transport Plans (Department for Transport) | link |
| 328 | Higher Level Stewardship Handbook (Natural England NE227, 3rd edition, 2010) | link |
| 328 | Local Government Act 1999 : Explanatory Notes (HMSO) | link |
| 328 | Rights of way improvement plans : guidance to local highway authorities (Defra) | download |
| 328 | ROWIP exemplar project: Accessibility and the needs of people with disabilities (York City Council) | link |
Supplement to the text of Chapter 12
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| 297 | 12.1.2 Section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 requires every local authority to have regard, so far as is consistent with the proper exercise of its functions, to the purpose of conserving biodiversity when undertaking those functions. Defra has issued guidance to local authorities on this duty. | download the guidance |
| 302 | 12.1.5, footnote 9, the 1992 regulations have been replaced by the Street Works (Registers, Notices, Directions and Designations) (England) Regulations 2007 and the Street Works (Registers, Notices, Directions and Designations) (Wales) Regulations 2008. These require registers to be indexed, to comply with BS 766 Part 1 and, by no later than 1st April 2009, to be based on a geographical information system. The Department for Transport has published new and revised guidance on street works, which includes guidance on the registers. | link to English regulations link to Welsh regulations link to DfT website for guidance |
| 303 | 12.1.8 The membership of national park authorities in England has been revised from 8th May 2007 by the National Park Authorities (England) Order 2006. | link to order |
| 304 | 12.2.1 Section 40 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 requires every government department and agency, to have regard, so far as is consistent with the proper exercise of its functions, to the purpose of conserving biodiversity when undertaking those functions. Defra has issued guidance to public authorities on this duty. | download the guidance |
| 309 | 12.4.3 Defra published in March 2007 a report by Cranfield University The social and economic benefits of Public Rights of Way - quantifying value for money and associated PROWTool for highway authorities to use in their improvement plan work. | link |
| 311 | 12.4.4 The regulations governing membership of Local Access Forums in England have been revised (Local Access Forums (England) Regulations 2007), and revised guidance has been issued (see above list). | link to regulations |
| 311 | 12.4.4 Advice on the role of Local Access Forums in relation to rights of way is contained, for authorities in England, in Defra circular 1/09, paragraph 3.2 | download circular 1/09 |
| 314 | 12.5.2 The Equality and Human Rights Commission has replaced the Disability Rights Commission. | link to website for the new Commission |
| 315 | 12.5.4 Advice on the application of the Disability Discrimination Act to rights of way is, for authorities in England, contained in Defra circular 1/09 at paragraphs 1.3, 5.4 and 6.8 | download circular 1/09 |
| 319 | 12.6.2 For consideration of the meaning of ‘public place’ in section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, see Harriot v Director of Public Prosecutions (2005), (area set back from road in front of bail hostel held not to be a ‘public place’). | link to judgment |
| 324 | 12.6.5 The duty of public authorities to provide ‘environmental information’ is imposed, not by the Freedom of information Act 2000, but by paragraph 5 of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, (implementing European Council Directive 2003/4/EC). The terms ‘public authorities’ and ‘environmental information’ are defined in the regulations (para 2), the latter term including planning applications and planning permissions. In Markinson v Information Commissioner (Information Tribunal Appeal Number:EA/2005/0014 FER 0061168), X complained to the Information Commissioner (established by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and charged by regulation 18 of the Environmental Information Regulations with hearing complaints under those Regulations) that the charge of £6 made by the King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council for a copy of a planning application was excessive. Under regulation 8, an authority may not charge for the inspection of information. It may charge for copies of information supplied, provided that the charge does ‘not exceed an amount which the public authority is satisfied is a reasonable amount’. The Information Commissioner, being satisfied that the authority had satisfied itself that the amount charged was (taking into account the (sic) ‘legal significance’ of the document) reasonable, rejected the complaint. X appealed (under section 58 of the Freedom of information Act 2000) to the Information Tribunal. The Tribunal found that the Council and the Commissioner had failed to take into account guidance on making a charge for the provision of information, and that ‘the Commissioner was wrong to conclude that the Council’s decision was one that a reasonable authority, which had properly instructed itself as to the applicable law and relevant facts, could have reached’. The Tribunal ruled that the Council should re-assess the charges it makes for providing copies of ‘environmental information’ and that in making the re-assessment it should adopt as a guide price the sum of 10p per A4 sheet, as identified in the good practice guidance on access to and charging for planning information published by the office of the Deputy Prime Minister and as recommended by the Department for Constitutional Affairs, being free to exceed that price only if it could demonstrate that there was a good reason for doing so, taking into account guidance by Defra to the effect that any charge should be at a level that does not exceed the cost of producing the copies. |
link to regulations download tribunal decision |
| 324 | 12.6.5 A number of decisions of the Information Commissioner and Information Tribunal have been summarised and are available as a download. | download summaries |
| 324 | 12.6.6 The Local Government Ombudsman has published a list of decisions on rights of way cases between 1993 and 2007. | link then use ‘Downloads’ |
| 328 | 12.7.1 In R (Horvath) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2007) the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal and varied the direction. In Horvath (Agriculture) (2009) The European Court of Justice held : (i) that the UK government had been entitled to introduce cross-compliance measures relating to public rights of way; and (ii) that the respective administrations in England and Wales had been entitled to introduce different cross-compliance measures (the provisions about rights of way not applying in Wales). | link to Court of Appeal link to European Court |
| 328 | Further Reading A Welsh version of “By All Reasonable Means” has been published. | |
| 328 | Further Reading Guidance “Understanding the British Standard for Gaps Gates and Stiles: BS5709:2006 explained” has been published by the Pittecroft Trust. | link to the Trust’s website |