19.Sections 4 and 5 require the countryside bodies to draw up and consult on maps of open country and registered common land.
20.Section 4 imposes a duty on the countryside bodies to prepare maps of open country and registered common land (which must be separately identified). It also gives the countryside bodies a discretion not to map small areas of open country, and to map the boundary of open country to an appropriate physical feature. This discretion does not apply in the mapping of registered common land.
21.Section 5 sets out a procedure for public consultation on draft maps. The countryside bodies are required to take any comments during the consultation into account when revising the maps, which they must then issue as provisional maps.
22.Section 6 provides a right of appeal to the Secretary of State (or the National Assembly for Wales) against the showing of any land on provisional maps as open country or registered common land. The right may be exercised by anyone with an interest in the land, which includes the owner, a tenant, a commoner, or generally anyone with any rights over the land (see the definition of interest in section 45). An appeal against the showing of land as open country may be brought on the grounds that the land is not wholly or predominantly open countryside, and (where relevant) that the boundary of the land should not have been mapped to a nearby physical feature. However, an appeal against the showing of land as registered common land may be brought only on the ground that the land is not registered as common land under the Commons Registration Act 1965 (see the definition of registered common land in section 1). On determining an appeal, the Secretary of State (or the National Assembly for Wales) may confirm the map with or without modifications, or he (or it) may direct the relevant countryside body to prepare a new map (which may be of the land subject to the appeal, or all or part of the map on which the land is included). If a new map is prepared, further consultation will then take place on the new map in draft form.
23.Sections 7 and 8 and Schedule 3 set out a procedure for the hearing of appeals, and appellate functions in respect of which the Secretary of State (or the National Assembly for Wales) may delegate his (or its) powers.
24.Under subsection (1) of section 7, an appellant (or the relevant countryside body) may elect for a hearing of the appeal (rather than for the appeal to be determined by correspondence), and the Secretary of State (or the National Assembly for Wales) may decide to deal with any case by means of a hearing or a local inquiry, whether or not one has been requested. Subsection (2) of section 7 provides (by reference to subsections (2) to (5) of section 250 of the Local Government Act 1972) that, where a hearing or inquiry is held, witnesses may be required to attend and give evidence, and costs may be awarded. Costs arising from any planned hearing or inquiry which does not take place may also be awarded under subsection (3), where the hearing or inquiry has been requested by either of the parties.
25.Section 9 provides for a provisional map to be confirmed as a conclusive map once all appeals (in relation to the land shown on the map) have been determined, or, if there were no appeals (or any appeals were withdrawn), after the period for lodging appeals has passed. The Secretary of State (or the National Assembly for Wales) may at any time direct the countryside body to issue in conclusive form any part of a provisional map in respect of which there are no appeals outstanding. A conclusive map will incorporate any modifications made by the Secretary of State (or the National Assembly for Wales) on appeal. Subsection (6) ensures that a document which has been certified by the appropriate countryside body as a copy of a conclusive map may be used in evidence in court without further proof of provenance.
26.Section 10 requires the countryside bodies to review a statutory map within ten years and not less frequently than every ten years thereafter (or any other periods specified by the Secretary of State or the National Assembly for Wales by regulation). On review, the bodies must consider both whether land shown on the map as open country or registered common land remains of that description, and whether other land should now be shown as open country or registered common land.
27.Section 11 makes provision for the Secretary of State and the National Assembly for Wales to make regulations supplementing the provisions of sections 4 to 10 on mapping. These regulations will (among other things) provide for the procedure to be followed on a review.
Introduction Commentary on sections Sections 4 to 11 and Schedule 3: Maps