News that DEFRA is withdrawing funding for the Discovering Lost Ways (DLW) project will no doubt be welcomed by most landowners, but relief should be tempered with caution: the threat of intrusive new rights of way has not been removed, and the project has wasted large sums of money that are sorely needed to address other rural issues.

DLW aimed to ‘streamline the uncovering of evidence’ so that new rights of way could be added to the current network in England and Wales. It allowed old byways and droves to be reopened in cases where historic use could be proved, even if the routes were not shown on ‘definitive’ maps.

But Local Authorities were not prepared for the number of applications for new rights of way they received: DLW itself identified up 300 possible new routes in Cheshire, Nottinghamshire and Shropshire alone and ‘potentially up to 10,000 across the rest of England and Wales’. Over the past eight years, the reopening of just five new routes, totalling some ten miles, have been approved. The process has so far cost £4.5m.

‘Withdrawing funding for such a cumbersome and inefficient process makes financial sense and many landowners will be breathing a sigh of relief,’ says Christopher Monk, at Strutt & Parker. ‘Yet uncertainty continues, because although Local Authorities will no longer receive funding for the handling of applications and the reopening of old routes, they still have a statutory duty to investigate valid claims. The issue will not go away and some landowners who would be affected by potential new routes might have to put up with these applications hanging over them for many years.

‘This is a classic example of a Government initiative that has not been properly thought through and has ended up wasting a great deal of money which would have been better spent on identifying where new routes really are needed by users, and repairing and maintaining existing public rights of way. If the Government had worked with landowners, instead of taking a dictatorial approach against them, much more could have been achieved to the benefit of users everywhere.

‘I am also concerned that the Government’s Rights of Way Review Committee will now focus its attention on reviewing existing legislation such as the Wildlife and Countryside Acts in order to make the establishment of rights of way easier. Rationalising ageing legislation can be a positive thing if it is done properly, but I can’t help thinking of the 10,000 potential new routes that have been identified so far and their implications for rural communities, conservation and the countryside in general.