Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they propose to set up a stakeholder working party with an independent chairman to make recommendations to them concerning any damage to rights of way caused by motorised traffic.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
On 11 February Minister Stewart wrote to all the national park authorities to explain the Government was not going to establish a motor vehicle working group, as he believes in locally brokered solutions as the long term solution to issues around motor vehicles on public rights of way.
Defra and Natural England are offering to hold a one-off forum for all motor vehicle stakeholders to share their knowledge and expertise and to discuss ways of working together in the future.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord De Mauley on 3 March (HL5173), whether the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the National Trails will be directly represented on the proposed Working Party rather than rely on representation by Nature England.
Answered by Lord De Mauley
The composition of the motor vehicle stakeholder working group is yet to be decided, but before deciding on its composition we will, as a first step, invite interested organisations to put forward their suggestions for suitable members.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord De Mauley on 23 February (HL4993), whether (1) National Trails and (2) the National Association for Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which are both directly affected, will be invited to join as full members of the stakeholder working group when established .
Answered by Lord De Mauley
Defra will work with Natural England to invite stakeholders with the relevant experience and expertise to join the motor vehicle stakeholder working group. The composition of the group is yet to be decided, but the intention is that members will be invited to join the group based on their expertise and ability to work constructively with others, rather than simply on whom they represent.
We will invite interested organisations to put forward their suggestions for suitable members. The group will contain a balance of interests from across all sectors and we plan to have members who can represent the interests of Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and National Trails.
Asked by: Lord Bradshaw (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the voting protocol for their proposed stakeholder working group on off-road recreational motor vehicles; and what is the proposed timetable for the group to report its findings to ministers and for the ensuing public consultation.
Answered by Lord De Mauley
The proposed stakeholder working group on off-road recreational motor vehicles will not need to establish a voting protocol as it will deliver a report stating, if necessary, where there are differences of opinion, or where there is no consensus. It will then be for Ministers to decide what proposals in the report to take forward.
We will set a target timeframe of 18 months for the group to report to Ministers and a public consultation will follow afterwards.