Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill

moved Amendment No. 316:"Page 25, line 35, at end insert—" ““(   )   Notwithstanding subsection (1), a driver who is disabled such that the only method by which he can obtain access to the countryside is by the use of a mechanically propelled vehicle specially adapted to his disability may continue to use that vehicle on a public right of way to which this section applies.”” The noble Lord said: I cannot help but feel that some of the discussion on the previous group of amendments has pre-empted what I intended to say. My intention was that having, so to speak, shut the door, we should test exactly how tightly it has been shut and whether there are cases to consider, especially concerning disabled people and whether they can use these roads. Amendment No. 316 deals with the question of the disabled. It is a probing amendment and I recognise that it is not ideal, but I tabled it in the hope of persuading the Government that there is an issue that they ought to consider and to invite them to take it away to see whether they could do something to enable disabled access. I do not want to pursue the cause of what I would call a general classification of disability, which is far too wide—I gather that 8 million people in the country are in one way or another classified as disabled. I do not intend to talk about 8 million people. I intend to talk about those people who could gain access to the countryside only in an adapted vehicle or a wheelchair. Having listened to the previous debate, it occurs to me that we need to ask whether a mechanically propelled wheelchair is a mechanically propelled vehicle. That may seem an interesting question, but of course a mechanically propelled wheelchair is, in a sense, a mechanically propelled vehicle. If the effect of the Bill is to prevent people using those rights of way in mechanically propelled wheelchairs, we have a real problem because they could come to the end of the track, or whatever, and be able to go no further. There is a question of legal definition here and I hope that the Minister will consider that issue, if he considers nothing else. There are people who are unable to walk who like to get out into the countryside. Often, they are able to drive a conventional vehicle, which makes the matter especially complicated, because one does not want completely to reopen the gate having closed it. They can take a conventional vehicle and drive it up one of    these lanes, get their mechanically propelled wheelchair out of the back of the vehicle and enjoy the countryside. There is a real danger that we prevent them doing that. Because that awkward situation exists, I thought that, at the very least, it bears discussion. I introduced the amendment to try to persuade the Minister that that is worth taking up as a case, to see whether something can be done to ensure that disabled people are able to continue to enjoy the countryside as they have done using those lanes. My second amendment was touched on by the noble Viscount, Lord Falkland, when he talked about access for sporting events. A class of sporting events takes place occasionally in the countryside. One can think immediately of things such as point-to-points, clay pigeon shoots for charity and angling competitions, for which those lanes are often quite the most suitable and sometimes the only means of access. Once again, one would not wish to restrict those activities. Amendment No. 317 was tabled simply to enable the Minister to explain, if he will forgive me for asking the question, what the limits on this access are, because it seems to me that the occasional use of these rights of way for access to what could be a sizeable public event should be acceptable. If the ban is absolute, it would not be. That might be quite difficult for some countryside events if a right of way that was used perhaps only once a year could not be used. As I said, I tabled Amendment No. 317 to explore those two issues. I see that my amendments have been grouped with several amendments which I have no intention of attempting to deal with, but which all run along the same line of what I would call exceptions, be they major or minor. I beg to move.