system and conflicts of interest between different users.  (Glyptis, 1992, p40.)  Commonly now known as the Year 2000 Reclassification this target was incorporated into the Government's white paper on the environment "This Common Inheritance" adding weight to the importance of reclassifying rights of way by the year 2000. 
    As the target date looms on the horizon there is a last minute rush to reclassify our rights of way.  Such a large task, reclassifying some 193,000 km of rights of way (Countryside Commission⁸, 1994) and a hurried schedule has resulted in many groups becoming very involved.  Interest groups worry that corners may be cut and rights of way lost or even worse reclassified as suitable for another user group.  The conflict over the use of vehicles on Britain's rights of way is intensifying due to the target for reclassification, and the growing "environmental" movement intensifying conflicts between vehicle users and others, such interest and debate has only served to slow the reclassification process further.
    Greenlaning, the recreational pastime of driving vehicular rights of way gets its name from the roads used, usually not much more than grass tracks.  The term green lane has no legal meaning although it is widely used within the off road fraternity to denote using rights of way suitable for them namely BOAT's (Byways Open to All Traffic).  Vehicles can also use RUPP's (Roads Used as Public Paths) until they are reclassified as Footpath, Bridleway or Byway depending on whether vehicular rights exist on them under guidelines specified in the next chapter. It is such rights of way that several interest groups including the Ramblers' Association want vehicles removed from.

Back