Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the decision to end cross-compliance and the accompanying Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition 7b on public rights of way and local highway authority teams.

The Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) 7b in cross compliance sets out rules to keep public rights of way accessible and open. These rules must be met by all recipients of former Common Agriculture Policy schemes (Basic Payment Scheme, Countryside Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship and Woodland Schemes). The rules within this GAEC are also in the Highways Act 1980 and therefore apply to all farmers and land managers. The Highways Act 1980 legislation will continue following the end of cross compliance and will be enforced by local highway authorities as it is currently. This means that the rules that protect public rights of way will remain in place after the end of cross compliance and all farmers and land managers will need to continue to adhere to them. The loss of GAEC 7b does not change the role or remit of local highway authority teams.