The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act (NERC) - Find a freedom of information request

Prior to the introduction of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act (NERC) interested parties were invited to submit written 'claims' in order to better inform the decision making process regarding the re-classification of the various rights of way affected by the Act.

Following the imposition of the Act, many routes that had previously had vehicular rights of way were re-classified as Restricted Byway, Bridleway or Footpath; but, where the affected route has an outstanding 'claim' for vehicular use then that route is allocated Dual Status and the vehicular access rights remain until such time as the relevant claim is ratified or rejected.

1. Please identify (by Name, Parish and USRN) those routes marked as Dual Status on the LCC online, electronic working copy definitive map, that still have unresolved claims and that still retain vehicular rights of way.

The information requested is already in the public domain.

None of the routes are marked as 'dual status; on the map described in the request as the “ LCC online, electronic working copy definitive map'”.

That map is the County Council's 'Countryside Access Map'. It records public rights of way, their status as recorded on the Definitive Map, and the parish that they are situated in .

It does not record 'Dual Status' routes. The County Council provides information recorded on its 'List of Streets' which is the list of highways maintainable at public expense, to the National Street Gazeteer which may be viewed by the public at www.findmystreet.co.uk.

The Gazeteer provides the USRN, location and Street name . Lincolnshire County Council's Register of DMMO Applications to modify the Definitive Map is available to the public at: https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/directory/8/register-of-dmmoapplications

Details of routes claimed , including their location and the status claimed are listed by parish and a copy of the application may be viewed.

The Register also records whether the claim is resolved. If it is resolved and then shown on the Definitive Map its status will be shown on the Countryside Access map .

Where it is unresolved the status of the route claimed cannot be confirmed.

As such, this information is exempt from disclosure in accordance with the exemption set out at Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which provides that a public authority need not comply with a request for disclosure under the Act where that information is reasonably accessible by other means.