Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, in deciding to reinstate a deadline for recording historic rights of way, what engagement took place between Ministers and organisations representing landowners and land managers.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Ministers had no engagement with the Country Land and Business Association and the National Farmers Union regarding the decision to reinstate the deadline for the recording of historic rights of way.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 29 March (HL6810), what steps they are taking to ensure that the backlog of 4,000 applications for historic rights of way are assessed in a timely manner; and what discussions the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has had with the Department for Levelling-up, Housing and Communities about the funding required by local authorities to consider those applications.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2023/24 makes available up to £59.7 billion for local government in England, the majority of which is un-ringfenced in recognition of local authorities being best placed to understand local priorities and allocate funding accordingly.
The Government is committed to implementing the rights of way reforms package which will reduce bureaucracy and speed up the process for new rights of way to be added to the legal record for everyone to enjoy. The reforms will streamline processes for recording rights of way with landowners, local authorities and users benefitting from a faster, less expensive, less confrontational and less bureaucratic process.
Local authorities will have powers to reject weakly evidenced applications, ignore irrelevant objections and agree appropriate modifications directly with landowners. Local authorities will have powers to correct obvious administrative errors on the definitive map via a significantly shortened process.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Benyon on 29 March (HL6810), whether they will provide additional funding for local highway authorities to address (1) the backlog of 4,000 applications for historic rights of way, and (2) the 41,000 miles of potentially unrecorded routes discovered by the Ramblers and its volunteers.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2023/24 makes available up to £59.7 billion for local government in England, the majority of which is un-ringfenced in recognition of local authorities being best placed to understand local priorities and allocate funding accordingly.
The Government is committed to implementing the rights of way reforms package which will reduce bureaucracy and speed up the process for new rights of way to be added to the legal record for everyone to enjoy. The reforms will streamline processes for recording rights of way with landowners, local authorities and users benefitting from a faster, less expensive, less confrontational and less bureaucratic process.
Local authorities will have powers to reject weakly evidenced applications, ignore irrelevant objections and agree appropriate modifications directly with landowners. Local authorities will have powers to correct obvious administrative errors on the definitive map via a significantly shortened process.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will provide additional funding for local highway authorities to address (1) the backlog of 4,000 applications for historic rights of way, and (2) the 41,000 miles of potentially unrecorded routes discovered by the Ramblers and its volunteers.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Funding for local authorities is a matter for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact on their commitment to ensure that everyone in England is 15 minutes' walk from green and blue spaces of their decision to re-impose a deadline for recording historic rights of way.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone in England can access green and blue spaces within a 15-minute walk as outlined in our Environmental Improvement Plan. The rights of way reforms package will reduce bureaucracy and speed up the process for new rights of way to be added to the legal record for everyone to enjoy.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to regulate, and (2) to supervise, farmers to ensure that no products from economically viable land, that would otherwise be used for food, are used as feedstocks for sustainable aviation fuels.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
As set out in July, in the Government Response to the consultation "Mandating the use of sustainable aviation fuels in the UK", to count towards and be eligible for reward under any UK mandate for sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), SAF must not be produced from food or feed crops.
While growing crops for the biofuel sector offers farmers more routes to market for their harvest and flexibility in their crop rotations, consideration must also be given to land biodiversity or carbon-store value.
HM Government’s Food Strategy aims to broadly maintain the current level of food that we produce domestically and to boost production in sectors where there are the biggest opportunities. We announced in the Food Strategy the intention to publish a Land Use Framework for England in 2023, which will set out land-use change principles to ensure food production is balanced alongside climate, environment and infrastructure outcomes.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Benyon on 24 May 2021 (HL Deb col 814), what steps they have taken to engage with public access stakeholders in the design of Environmental Land Management policy.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
HM Government is a great supporter of the health and wellbeing benefits that access to the countryside can bring. As articulated in the 25 Year Environment Plan, public access to the countryside provides a huge range of benefits, including improving physical and mental health and supporting local communities and economies. HM Government supports educational activities that aim to provide access onto farms for the wider public and school children through grants available in Countryside Stewardship. This includes funding farmers for hosting school pupils and care farming clients to engage with farming and the environment, as well as funding for training to enable an agreement holder to carry out enhanced educational experiences.
We are considering how best to maintain investment in public access as part of our future schemes. The teams responsible for developing the options for future schemes have been engaging with the quarterly Access and Engagement with Nature Stakeholder Forum, and will continue to do so. In addition to the quarterly forum, Defra officials will be holding an engagement session dedicated to the discussion of Environmental Land Management with public access stakeholders in November.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Benyon on 24 May 2021 (HL Deb col 814), whether future Environmental Land Management schemes will include options for farmers and land managers to receive financial assistance for improving public access to the countryside.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
HM Government is a great supporter of the health and wellbeing benefits that access to the countryside can bring. As articulated in the 25 Year Environment Plan, public access to the countryside provides a huge range of benefits, including improving physical and mental health and supporting local communities and economies. HM Government supports educational activities that aim to provide access onto farms for the wider public and school children through grants available in Countryside Stewardship. This includes funding farmers for hosting school pupils and care farming clients to engage with farming and the environment, as well as funding for training to enable an agreement holder to carry out enhanced educational experiences.
We are considering how best to maintain investment in public access as part of our future schemes. The teams responsible for developing the options for future schemes have been engaging with the quarterly Access and Engagement with Nature Stakeholder Forum, and will continue to do so. In addition to the quarterly forum, Defra officials will be holding an engagement session dedicated to the discussion of Environmental Land Management with public access stakeholders in November.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Benyon on 27 May (HL Deb., col. 1097), when they will publish details of how new environmental land management schemes will increase access to footpaths.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Footpath networks are of high importance when considering how the public can access and enjoy the treasured landscapes.
Clear arrangements are already in place through the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to allow for the establishment, recording and appeal of rights of way to agreed standards, and local authorities hold the responsibility for their maintenance. Local authorities are required to keep a Rights of Way Improvement Plan to plan improvements to the existing rights of way network in their area.
Local Access Forums (LAF) advise local authorities and other organisations about making improvements to public access for outdoor recreation and sustainable travel. LAFs can set their own priorities depending on local issues, so engagement is typically with their local authority rather than central government.
Additionally, access to rivers and other waterways is managed by navigation authorities.
The Agricultural Transition Plan was published in November 2020 and the Government published an update in June 2021. Further information on the Environmental Land Management Schemes will be published later this year.
Asked by: Baroness Scott of Needham Market (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the reply by Lord Gardiner of Kimble on 7 July 2020 (HL Deb., col. 1102), when they will publish details outlining the ways in which new environmental land management schemes will deliver improvements in public access to (1) water bodies, and (2) waterways.
Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Footpath networks are of high importance when considering how the public can access and enjoy the treasured landscapes.
Clear arrangements are already in place through the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 to allow for the establishment, recording and appeal of rights of way to agreed standards, and local authorities hold the responsibility for their maintenance. Local authorities are required to keep a Rights of Way Improvement Plan to plan improvements to the existing rights of way network in their area.
Local Access Forums (LAF) advise local authorities and other organisations about making improvements to public access for outdoor recreation and sustainable travel. LAFs can set their own priorities depending on local issues, so engagement is typically with their local authority rather than central government.
Additionally, access to rivers and other waterways is managed by navigation authorities.
The Agricultural Transition Plan was published in November 2020 and the Government published an update in June 2021. Further information on the Environmental Land Management Schemes will be published later this year.