Openness of Government Regulations 2014
The Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 requires us to keep, and publish on our website, a written record of certain decisions made under some delegated powers since August 2014.
The Rights of Way Committee are responsible for all decisions relating to rights of way and open access land, and have delegated many of the decision-making powers to the Head of Ranger Service. Including:
- New Gates (or stiles) – We can authorise new gates and stiles across rights of way under section 147 of the Highways act 1980. There must be a need for the new gate/stile in the interests of agriculture or forestry.
- Temporary Closures of Rights of Way – We can make temporary traffic regulation orders or notices to close paths for up to six months for various purposes, usually for public safety or for works to be carried out.
- Public Path Orders – The ADD LINK make the decisions on public path orders and creation agreements where there are objections during the informal consultations or once an order has been made and published. Where no substantive objections or representations are received the power has been delegated.
- Modification Orders – All modification orders are dealt with by the ADD LINK
- Consents to use rights of way for motor events – We can to grant consent for motor events to take place on public rights of way under section 33 of the Road Traffic Act 1988. This consent is usually subject to certain conditions such as signage and marshalling.
- Open Access – Restrictions & Access Points – We can make restrictions relating to open access land under the Countryside & Rights of Way Act 2000, and to enter into agreements with landowners under section 35 to install or improve access points on or to open access land.
The links below contain the lists of committee and delegated decisions, along with the full authorisation report for the delegated decisions (follow bookmark link for relevant ‘DD’ number in the list). Scroll down for previous year’s reports. Committee papers can be found on our committee pages.
