§ Paddy TippingTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress is being made towards giving a right of access to open countryside and common land in the lower north-west area; and if this will be implemented by summer 2004. [85346]
§ Alun MichaelThe provisional map of access land for the lower north-west was issued on 18 November. There is now a three-month period when anyone with a legal interest in the land may lodge an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate against the inclusion of their land as access land on the provisional map. We expect a conclusive map to be issued at the end of 2003, but this depends on the number of appeals. On current plans, I intend to open the new statutory right of access in the lower north-west and upper north-west together during the autumn of 2004. This will be followed by the north-east and the south-west in the first six months of 2005, with all access land opened by the end of 2005.