§ Mr. Carol Johnsonasked the Minister of Transport why, in preparing the Motor Vehicles (Competitions and Trials) Regulations 1965, he ignored the recommendation of his advisory committee that the holding of a motor rally on a green lane should be subject to the same conditions as if it were on a footpath or bridleway.
§ Mr. Tom FraserThe Motor Rallies Advisory Committee recommended that any part of the route of a motoring event that traverses "roads used as public paths" (as defined in Section 27 of the National Park and Access to the Countryside Act, 1949), and so marked on a definitive map prepared under Section 32 of that Act, should be subject to authorisation by the highway authority. The Motor Vehicles (Competitions and Trials) (England) Regulations, 1965, will provide that events on such roads should be subject to authorisation by the appropriate authority (i.e. the chief constable or the Royal Automobile Club) in the same way as events on other roads, but that the 211W appropriate authority should first consult the highway authority. I think it is in principle undesirable that two or more bodies should be responsible for authorising different parts of the same event. Moreover, the National Parks Act draws a distinction between "roads used as public paths" and footpaths and bridle-ways, and I do not believe that events on these roads should necessarily be treated in the same way as those on footpaths and bridleways.