Public Path Orders

HC Deb 02 July 1996 vol 280 c397W

Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what factors led him to amend the Local Authorities (Recovery of Costs for Public Path Orders) Regulations 1993 to remove the ceiling on charges for the making of a public path order. [34856]

Mr. Clappison

The amendment of the Local Authorities (Recovery of Costs for Public Path Orders) Regulations 1993 is consistent with our policy of removing unnecessary bureaucracy from local authorities. Independent research, which we commissioned to examine the operation of the regulations, found that the ceiling on charges for the making of public path orders prevented local authorities from recovering their costs in most cases. It also found no evidence that the ceiling has encouraged greater efficiency.