Public rights of access to the countryside - conclusive maps

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 required conclusive maps of registered common land and access land to be produced.

Once issued in conclusive form (a process completed in 2005), the maps must, by virtue of s.10, be kept under review by Natural England.

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (Review of Maps) (England) Regulations 2013 took effect from 6 April 2013 and require that where the map is of an area in England, the first review must be undertaken not more than fifteen years after the issue of the map in conclusive form and subsequent reviews undertaken not more than twenty years after the previous review.

The Access to the Countryside (Maps) (England) Regulations 2013 have now been made and come into force, in England only, on 1 October 2013.

They require Natural England to make provision for: (i) the public to be able to inspect the conclusive maps; (ii) retaining the conclusive maps in electronic form; and (iii) the inspection and supply of the conclusive maps on a reduced scale being a scale which is smaller than the scale of the conclusive map but not less than 1:25,000.

The Regulations also revoke a number of earlier statutory instruments namely SI 2001/3301, SI 2002/1710, SI 2003/32, SI 2003/1591 and SI 2005/2027.