Defra has advised the stakeholder group on public rights of way that the controversial 2026 cut off date in the Crow Act will be dropped. This is very good news and more details to follow.
Sections 53 to 56 of the CRoW Act set out the process for claiming old, unclaimed historic rights of way—crucially, with a cut-off date of 1 January 2026. Any that have not been claimed by then will cease to exist for ever, although with the possibility under Section 56 of an extension by regulations to 2036
From Defra
“We are writing to you today to inform you about important changes to the rights of way package of reforms. We have communicated these changes to the Stakeholder Working Group and will continue to work with them going forward.
The rights of way reforms package has been underway for many years and whilst much progress has been made for which we are grateful to the Stakeholder Working Group and others, the legislation required to implement these reform measures is not yet ready to be laid and considerable work remains to complete this work. Defra has therefore decided on a pragmatic approach to take the package forward. We have decided to progress the Right to Apply and Cost Recovery SIs only and to repeal the 2026 cut-off date. We feel that this strikes some balance across stakeholder concerns and interests, while recognising that it doesn’t deliver on all the benefits originally envisaged.
We remain committed to seeking to make improvements to rights of way processes and procedures where possible and appropriate to do so and would welcome your continued advice and support with this endeavour.”
Path Watch 
I read this quote from another article with interest / hope
“The government has decided to take forward a streamlined package of measures in order to help enhance the way that rights of way are recorded and managed.”
Hopefully this includes the cumbersome DMMO process that was what the 2026 records project feeds into. In Kirklees we’re sat on loads of decade-plus old claims (FPs, FPs > BWs) that were never going to get addressed in a timely manner and all that was happening with 2026 was the creation of more work with no obvious actual timeline or budget for assessment and resolution. It feels like the only DMMOs seemingly being serviced concerned large rural property owners trying to re-route footpaths.
Hopefully all that will change and the work done so far for 2026 will see some action. The removal of the deadline doesn’t solve the problem of getting specific access issues addressed.
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