PETITION TO REPEAL SECTIONS 53 TO 56 OF THE COUNTRYSIDE AND RIGHTS OF WAY ACT 2000.

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 introduced a deadline for the recording of historic rights of way on definitive maps (the legal record of public rights of way). After 1 January 2026 most pre-1949 paths which have not been recorded on these maps will be lost forever. An estimated 20,000 paths could be lost because of this measure, including many in towns and cities. The government funded project to assist with the researching and recording of these routes (the 'Discovering Lost Ways' project) has been terminated without recording a single path but the public had a legitimate expectation that something would be done to record the so-called lost ways because when the legislation was going through Parliament the Minister made it clear that they would not close the maps in this way "without ensuring that there are adequate resources to make it possible for all existing paths that can reasonably be found to be found.”. Now that the promised resources have been withdrawn the RA believes that repeal of the cut-off date is essential. We have therefore put a petition on the No. 10 website calling for the repeal of the relevant legislation. Please follow this link and add your name to the petition:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/repeal2026/

Many thanks. Your support is greatly appreciated.

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