PART 3E+WDuty to close certain public paths and access land

Closure of public paths and access landE+W

14.—(1) Where paragraph (2) applies to a public path or access land in the area of a relevant authority, the relevant authority must—

(a)close the public path or access land, and

(b)keep it closed until the time when the authority considers that closure is no longer necessary to prevent, protect against, control or provide a public health response to the incidence or spread of infection with coronavirus in its area.

(2) This paragraph applies to the public paths and access land in its area a relevant authority considers—

(a)to be liable to large numbers of people congregating or being in close proximity to each other, or

(b)the use of which otherwise poses a high risk of exposure to coronavirus.

(3) Where a public path or access land has been closed under—

(a)regulation 4 of the Health Protection (Coronavirus: Closure of Leisure Businesses, Footpaths and Access Land) (Wales) Regulations 2020 M1,

(b)regulation 9 of the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (Wales) Regulations 2020 M2,

(c)regulation 11 of the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2020 M3,

the path or land is to be treated as if it were closed under paragraph (1) of this regulation.

(4) No person may use a public path or access land closed by virtue of paragraph (1) unless authorised by the relevant authority.

(5) The relevant authority must—

(a)publish a list of public paths or access land closed in its area on a website;

(b)erect and maintain notices in prominent places informing the public of the closure of a public path or access land.

(6) For the purposes of this regulation references to a public path or access land include parts of a public path or access land.

(7) In this regulation—

(a)the “relevant authority” means—

(i)a local authority,

(ii)a National Park authority in Wales,

(iii)Natural Resources Wales, or

(iv)the National Trust;

(b)“public path” means a footpath, bridleway, byway, restricted byway or cycle track and—

(i)“footpath”, “bridleway” and “cycle track” have the same meaning as in section 329(1) of the Highways Act 1980 M4;

(ii)“byway” means a “byway open to all traffic” within the meaning given by section 66(1) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 M5;

(iii)“restricted byway” has the meaning given by section 48(4) of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 M6;

(c)“access land” includes land to which the public has access by virtue of its ownership by the National Trust, but otherwise has the same meaning as in section 1(1) of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 M7.