(1)Every local highway authority other than an inner London authority shall, within five years after the commencement of this section, prepare and publish a plan, to be known as a rights of way improvement plan, containing—
(a)the authority’s assessment of the matters specified in subsection (2),
(b)a statement of the action they propose to take for the management of local rights of way, and for securing an improved network of local rights of way, with particular regard to the matters dealt with in the assessment, and
(c)such other material as the Secretary of State (as respects England) or the National Assembly for Wales (as respects Wales) may direct.
(2)The matters referred to in subsection (1)(a) are—
(a)the extent to which local rights of way meet the present and likely future needs of the public,
(b)the opportunities provided by local rights of way (and in particular by those within paragraph (a) of the definition in subsection (5)) for exercise and other forms of open-air recreation and the enjoyment of the authority’s area,
(c)the accessibility of local rights of way to blind or partially sighted persons and others with mobility problems, and
(d)such other matters relating to local rights of way as the Secretary of State (as respects England) or the National Assembly for Wales (as respects Wales) may direct.
(3)An authority by whom a rights of way improvement plan is published shall, not more than ten years after first publishing it and subsequently at intervals of not more than ten years—
(a)make a new assessment of the matters specified in subsection (2), and
(b)review the plan and decide whether to amend it.
(4)On such a review the authority shall—
(a)if they decide to amend the plan, publish it as amended, and
(b)if they decide to make no amendments to it, publish a report of their decision and of their reasons for it.
(5)In this section—
“cycle track”—
means a way over which the public have the following, but no other, rights of way, that is to say, a right of way on pedal cycles (other than pedal cycles which are motor vehicles within the meaning of the [1988 c. 52.] Road Traffic Act 1988) with or without a right of way on foot; but
does not include a way in or by the side of a highway consisting of or comprising a made-up carriageway (within the meaning of the 1980 Act);
“inner London authority” means Transport for London, the council of an inner London borough or the Common Council of the City of London;
“local highway authority” has the same meaning as in the 1980 Act;
“local rights of way” in relation to a local highway authority, means—
the footpaths, cycle tracks, bridleways and restricted byways within the authority’s area, and
the ways within the authority’s area which are shown in a definitive map and statement as restricted byways or byways open to all traffic.
(6)In subsection (5) the definition of “local rights of way” has effect until the commencement of section 47 with the substitution for the references to restricted byways and to ways shown in a definitive map and statement as restricted byways of a reference to ways shown in a definitive map and statement as roads used as public paths.