Public Rights of Way and Access to Land (Second Edition)

Citation

Cooling, P. (2003), "Public Rights of Way and Access to Land (Second Edition)", Property Management, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 283-284. https://doi.org/10.1108/pm.2003.21.4.283.1

The first edition of this useful book was published in 2001. At that time, it covered, as far as it could, the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (the CROW Act, 2000) which had already received the Royal Assent. However, none of the main statutory instruments were in force and the author has found it necessary to publish this second edition to take account of the new regulations and to update the case law.

This book is far more than a commentary on the CROW Act 2000 as it deals comprehensively with public rights of way and allied subjects (such as animals on public paths). The book is in three main sections, public rights of way generally; the advent and potential effect of the CROW Act 2000 and five appendices. The first two sections are clearly laid out in numbered paragraphs and are written in a style which makes this area of law accessible to both the landowner and his advisers, as well as lawyers and highway authorities. The full index also aids in the use of the book as a working tool and I found cross‐referencing a simple exercise.

The first section explains the creation of public highways, either by order or by dedication, and discusses all the possible types of land which might be categorised as public rights of way, including, for example, village greens. In addition, it deals with the extinguishment of public rights of way and their diversion; liability for their maintenance and criminal and civil offences which can be committed by the landowner (crop spraying in a field adjacent to a public path can, in certain circumstances, constitute an offence under the Health & Safety at Work etc. Act 1974); and it also gives guidance on how to ascertain which paths and highways are classed as public rights of way.

The second part provides a full description of the CROW Act 2000 and its regulations. This section is set out, for me, in a particularly manageable format. The author has not given a straight commentary section by section on the Act, but she has pulled together all the sections which have a bearing on one another, thus providing a useful management tool by obviating the need for the reader to first navigate the Act.

The third section comprises five appendices which reproduce the whole of the CROW Act 2000; suitable extracts from the Highways Act 1980 and the current regulations under CROW. They also contain the DETR circular which gives guidance on the Act. The final appendix traces the passage of the CROW Act 2000 through Parliament which may have been of interest in the first edition, but I feel is unnecessary now.

I believe that this book would be extremely useful to any practitioner who is obliged to tackle the problems created by rights of way. The author has produced a book which not only describes all the relevant legislation in one volume, but also handles the thorny problems of occupiers’ liability on public paths and access across common land. My only fear is, that with the CROW Act 2000 still in its early days, a further new edition will be required very quickly – perhaps a loose leaf format would have been more appropriate.