Agenda item

British Horse Society Consultation –

The BHS are asking LAF’s to look at the possible role they could have in protecting routes from being lost after the 2026 cut-off date is brought in.  Each Highway Authority keeps a List of Streets under Section 36 of the Highways Act 1980 which shows publicly maintainable highways.  There are some routes on this list which should be shown on the Definitive Map but which aren’t and if they’re not recorded on the DMS by the cut-off date then they could be lost as public rights of way.  However it is intended under the Deregulation Act and associated guidance that inclusion on the List of Streets would exempt a route from being lost.

The BHS are asking LAF’s to address questions to their HA about the robustness of the procedures they have for managing the List of Streets to ensure that routes not recorded on the DMS but which could be, but which are on the List of Streets are safe from being removed from it without proper process.   

JW described how Slough’s List of Streets is kept as a mixture of old maps, a GIS and a spreadsheet which also shows routes which are private and therefore not publicly maintained.

DM would look at the consultation and make an initial response as the consultation seems to be more relevant to rural areas where there are likely to be lots of unsealed routes and unclassified roads.  It is unclear whether or not this is especially relevant to Slough where these kinds of routes are rare.