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

To ask Her Majesty's Government on what date the Motor Vehicle Stakeholder Working Group last met to discuss Traffic Protection Orders on Green Lanes; and further to the recommendation in the report by the Select Committee on the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 The Countryside at a crossroads, (Session 2017–19, HL Paper 99), published on 22 March 2018, what plans they have to bring proposals forward on this issue.

The last meeting of the Motor Vehicle Stakeholder Working Group (MSWG) was on 2 May 2018. In the meeting it was agreed to use the group’s feedback to inform a consultation and discussion with order-making authorities regarding their current working practices around Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs), recreational vehicle management and ways to achieve the group’s recommendations such as new guidance. It was further agreed that parallel processes in other departments would be considered and so input was provided to the Department of Transport’s own review of TRO’s in 2019 labelled the ‘TRO Discovery Project’, which resulted in new guidance for surfaced highways.

Order-making authorities were surveyed in 2019 but there were insufficient responses to proceed further. Natural England was to carry out a more targeted survey in 2020, which due to the competing demands of the coronavirus pandemic and other priorities was delayed, although the intention remains to re-survey the authorities in due course.

We will consider seeking feedback from the MSWG once the survey has been completed and results are available.