Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department plans to take to ensure local authorities have adequate resources to process the anticipated increase in claims following the 2031 cut-off date for recording historic rights of way.

The Government has announced that it will repeal the 2031 cut-off date for the recording of historic rights of way as soon as parliamentary time allows. The final Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available over £69 billion for local government, which is a 6.8% cash terms increase on 2024-2025. The majority of this funding is not ringfenced in recognition that local authorities themselves are best placed to understand local priorities and allocate funding accordingly.