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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to extend the deadline of January 2026 for the registration of new public rights of way under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949.

Defra intends to lay legislation this year to streamline the process of recording and changing rights of way. A deadline for recording unrecorded historic rights of way will be brought into force which will finalise the legal record of rights of way. This will bring about certainty for users and landowners about where rights of way exist.

Whilst the cut-off date is currently 2026, this could be extended by regulation for a maximum of five years. Defra is working closely with stakeholders to understand different views and will take these views, along with the delays which this project has experienced, into account when reaching a decision.

After the cut-off date it will still be possible to record newly created rights of way on to the definitive maps.