Section 4.5 - Reclassification Orders

The County Council as Surveying Authority currently has a duty to reclassify RUPPs [Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 s54]. There are 161 RUPPs remaining and the County Council is often under pressure to pursue individual cases. A policy has been endorsed to set out the priority that will normally be applied by the County Council to individual cases and hence the order in which applications will be dealt with.

The reclassification of RUPPs will normally be investigated by Definitive Map (DM) sheet beginning with Sheet 1, except in any of the following circumstances where a route may be investigated sooner:

• Where an investigation would satisfy one or more of the key principles.
• Where the RUPP is part of an extensive network.

[Policy 1-Executive Committee-Agenda item 4-29January2001]

This policy will guide the County Council's approach to the reclassification of RUPPs from April 2001. However, it will be withdrawn when section 47 [Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000] comes into effect, as the County Council's duty to reclassify will be repealed. Section 47 will commence by order of the Secretary of State and pending further regulation.

Until such a time reclassification will be approached sheet by sheet displaying no preference for any particular geographical area. However, it is recognised that where the RUPP under investigation is part of a wider network of RUPPs, which may be located on a non-consecutive Definitive Map sheet then it is considered to be appropriate in terms of efficiency that the other RUPPs should be included within the primary investigation.

The work will be carried out alongside existing commitments to Evidential Modification Orders and future commitments to Public Path Orders and will be prioritised accordingly.