Vehicle use in Restricted Byway

Restricted byway designates a way which can be used by pedestrians, horse-riders, cyclists and horse-drawn carts and carriages. It is an offence under the Road Traffic Act 1988 (RTA 88) to drive a motorised vehicle on a restricted byway, except in certain circumstances. All rights of way previously recorded as Roads Used as Public Paths are re-classified as restricted byways. The routes in Buckinghamshire which are now restricted byways are as follows:

Restricted byways were defined in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW) and the relevant sections of CROW and other changes to highways legislation came into force alongside the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (NERC).

NERC provides for the extinguishment of unrecorded public rights of way for motor vehicles, subject to certain exceptions, and prevents use by motor vehicles giving rise to any kind of public right of way. This means that where vehicular rights have been acquired by non-motorised vehicles, such as horses and carts, the way would be recorded as a restricted byway.

Where people rely on unrecorded public vehicular rights for access to their property, NERC provides a private right of access for motorised vehicles and an exemption from prosecution under RTA 88, in certain circumstances.