Green lane

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A green lane is a type of road.

1 England and Wales
2 Jersey
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] England and Wales

In particular, a green lane is unsurfaced, and may be so infrequently used that there is no wearing of the surface, allowing vegetation to colonise freely, hence 'green'. Many green lanes are ancient routes that have existed for millennia. Modern traffic restrictions may apply. Many green lanes are open only to non-vehicular traffic, and are designated as a bridleway.

Green lane driving, using four wheel drive vehicles (SUVs) is popular with some, though has raised some environmental concerns due to the increased erosion and associated noise pollution.

Under rights-of-way (ROW) law, the concept of a "green lane" (and byway) doesn't exist. The various rights-of-way may be old roads (i.e. a green lane) but have different legal rights applying:

A Footpath has pedestrian rights.
A Bridleway allows pedestrians, horse traffic and cyclists.
A Restricted byway (RB) allows pedestrians, horse traffic and vehicles other than mechanically propelled vehicles (e.g. bicyles, horse-drawn carriages) - replaced the Road Used as a Public Path (RUPP) classification
A Byway Open to All Traffic (BOAT) which can be used by 4x4's (SUV's) and motorcyclists (that are road legal - because it has the same rights as any "normal" road).

The Countryside Act 1968 required all highway authorities to reclassify RUPPs in their area – occasionally as footpaths but in practise generally as bridleways unless public vehicular rights were demonstrated to exist in which case it would become a Byway Open to All Traffic. This process involved extensive research into historic usage and often public enquiries. Section 47 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 [1] set a time limit of 2026 for every highway authority to complete the recalssification exercise. The "National Environment and Rural Communities" act (NERC) [2] changed the deadline to the 2 May 2006.

This change is significant as RUPPs allowed motorised vehicular access, while RBs do not. This change resulted in significant conflict between user groups. Some highway authorities neglected to carry out their responsibilities under the Countryside Act 1948. This has meant that some counties, e.g. Somerset and Wiltshire, have extremely minimal rights of way available to motorised vehicles, while other more diligent counties, e.g. Kent, have a considerably more extensive network still available to vehicular users. Its is calculated that before the CROW Act approximately 5% of the national rights of way network was open to vehicular use, while post CROW this has halved to around 2 to 3%.

The various users of Rights of Way disagree (often passionately) about the other users' rights. Walker groups (such as the Ramblers Association) advocate the removal of vehicular rights on BOATs. Cyclists and Equestrians groups fear for their rights, while vehicular use of public rights of way is increasingly being seen as unacceptable and has been targeted for further restrictions.