§ Baroness Byfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are confident that open access to private land will be clearly signed by September 2004 for the use of members of the public. [HL2982]
§ Lord WhittyThe Government are working on a wide-ranging strategy to ensure that members of the public will be well informed about where the right of access introduced by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 applies when the first two regions, the South East and lower North West, open for access on 19 September.
As part of this strategy, the Countryside Agency will very shortly be issuing guidance to access authorities and land managers on the use of signs. The guidance will give access authorities the lead role in erecting and maintaining signs to show where open access rights exist and will encourage them to consult widely with 164WA land managers, local access forums and other interested parties in drawing up their plans.
New signs will not be needed in every case and the guidance will advocate careful thought about whether additional signage is appropriate. The Government have allocated £2 million for 2004–05 towards an access management grant scheme, to be administered by the Countryside Agency, which will help authorities to meet the cost of providing signs. Interim guidance about how the scheme will work has been available since April this year and final guidance will be issued by the Countryside Agency in early June.
The Countryside Agency has already held two workshops attended by access authorities in the South East and lower North West to promote the scheme and plans to hold a further series of meetings with land managers in these areas in partnership with the Country Land and Business Association later this year.