This Act is widely known as introducing the public's "right to roam" over open country in England and Wales where previously there was no public right of way. A summary is given here of the application of the Act to quarry sites. For more detailed guidance or for advice in specific cases you should contact the Countryside Agency or Countryside Council for Wales. Separate legislation applies in Scotland.
Mapping exercise
The mapping exercise carried out by the Countryside Agency and Countryside Council for Wales has mapped "open country" and registered common land. Open country is mountain, moor, heath and down. Registered common land is simply land registered as such under the Commons Registration Act 1965. Either category may include active or abandoned quarries.
Definition of access land
The new access rights apply only to "access land", which is a subset of open country and registered common land. "Access land" does not include "excepted land" as defined in Schedule 1, so there is no new public right of access over excepted land.
"Land used for the getting of minerals by surface working (including quarries)" is excepted under Schedule 1, Part 1, paragraph 5. There is no definition or cross reference in the CROW Act of what is meant by this, and so far no relevant case law. In this absence, applying the definition of "quarry" in Reg 3 of the Quarries Regulations 1999 is reasonable. Therefore, any land which is part of an active quarry operation is excepted, and no new access right is given.
Restrictions and closures
CROW and its supporting Regulations provide a new system of statutory restrictions and closures which can be used to manage the new access right where necessary for public safety or land management on access land. However, applying for such statutory restrictions and closures is not necessary on excepted land, since there are no new access rights there.
Existing rights of way
There is no change to existing access rights or traditions - for example public rights of way.
Public information on access land
There is however a potential problem with the public's likely understanding of their new rights. The new walkers' maps being published by the OS and on the Countryside Agency website do not distinguish excepted land from access land, but simply record open country, registered common land and land with existing rights of access such as urban commons. The precise extent of the new rights will not therefore be clear to the public from the maps. The walkers' maps will however advise walkers to check local information before leaving home and to obey any signs they find. The new Country Code also carries this message.
Physical barriers around excepted land
A quarry operator may use fencing, signs and other means to delineate the
boundary of excepted land. The same issues will apply here as with delineating existing rights of way, and laws of trespass apply on excepted land.
Regulation 16 of the Quarries Regulations 1999 places a duty on the operator "to ensure that, where appropriate, a barrier suitable for the purpose of discouraging trespass is placed around the boundary of the quarry and is properly maintained." Reg. 16 is enforced by HSE.
The local Highways Authority is "Access Authority" over access land and may be able to provide practical advice on the best approach. Other organisations such as the Country Landowners' Association and Quarry Products Association are also likely to be able to advise.
Quarry extension into planning permission area
Access land may include areas where there is existing planning permission
for mineral extraction but which are not yet being worked. The new access
right is likely to apply until the land is worked. As the quarry is extended into the planning permission, the land where work is taking place will become excepted and the access right will no longer apply. Again, the best guide to when this change of status takes place is Reg. 3 of the Quarries Regulations 1999.
Abandoned quarries
Once a quarry site which has been mapped as open country or registered common land is abandoned, it ceases to be excepted land and the new access right will apply once again.
The Countryside Agency must review its maps within ten years of publication. Land being progressively restored after mineral extraction may be mapped as open country at review, if the land character has changed sufficiently for it to qualify.
Anyone with a legal interest in access land may apply for a statutory restriction to limit the access rights where necessary for public safety, land management or fire prevention. This includes those responsible for public safety over land with abandoned quarry workings. The Access Authority will only give a restriction where informal techniques are inadequate (or unavailable) to manage the risk. In many instances, risks at abandoned quarry sites are similar to natural features encountered in open countryside and will be obvious to visitors. Sometimes
signs may be advisable to warn of hidden dangers, or physical barriers may be necessary.
Under the Environmental Protection Act the local authority have enforcement powers for the Mines and Quarries Act 1954, Section 151. Section 151 (1)(c) relates to a quarry (whether being worked or not) which:
(1) is not provided with an efficient and properly maintained barrier so designed and constructed as to prevent a person from accidentally falling into the quarry; and
(2) by reason of its accessibility from a highway or place of public resort constitutes a danger to members of the public.
The local authority can declare the unfenced quarry a statutory nuisance and are empowered to take remedial measures themselves and recover the cost from the quarry owner.
During the legislative process leading to CROW, the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Appairs (Defra) were given a power to regulate to make access land NOT a place of public resort, but decided not to use it. This means that abandoned mineral sites on access land that were not ALREADY places of public resort will become so on commencement of the rights.
Defra have produced guidance for both local authorities with enforcement powers under the Environmental Protection Act, and for land managers who may be affected.