There are between 7,500 and 8,000 level crossings in Great Britain, ranging from those that intersect large inner-city routes to public footpaths and private farm accesses.
The legislation governing these crossings is complex and much of it dates back to the nineteenth century when the main railways were constructed. The rules and regulations are contained in public Acts, private special Acts, bye-laws and in other legislation which is difficult to access. And, until now, there has been no attempt at consolidation.
The Law Commission launched a wide-ranging and comprehensive review, aiming to recommend reforms that will create:
- More efficient and cost-effective ways of operating, modernising and, where appropriate, closing crossings
- A better, more coherent safety regime
- Greater balance between the interests of rail and road users, and
- Modern solutions for regulating risk.
For ease of reading, the 200+ page consultation has also been divided into four main briefings, which also include the draft NFU responses:
- The changes proposed to the regulatory framework
- Managing change including procedures for closure of crossings
- Rights of way
- Criminal offences
These draft responses are available for members to download by clicking the links in releated documents on the right of this page.
The consultation also considers planning issues (in relation to large developments) and signage, but as these are not core membership issues relating to the use of railway crossings, we have not formulated draft responses. If you want to see the original full consultation document, you can visit the Law Commission website here.
- Peter Dyas - 23/12/2010
A rule has been enflorced locally that every time we cross the track we are forced to open and shut the gates - each time we go across with a truck load of onion, corn etc. This makes an absolute nonsense of trying to keep a combine or onion harvester working efficiently. we wondered whether a clause could be inserted whereby when the crossing in being used on a regular basis that commonsense can prevail.