National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949

45 Supplementary provisions as to diversion and extinguishment orders

(1) The three last foregoing sections shall apply in relation to public rights of way created before as well as after the commencement of this Act.

(2) The provisions of the three last foregoing sections shall be without prejudice to the provisions of any other enactment under which highways may be stopped up or diverted or public rights of way may be extinguished.

(3) A diversion order or extinguishment order affecting in any way the area of more than one authority may contain provisions requiring one of the authorities to defray, or contribute towards, expenditure incurred in consequence of the order by another of the authorities; and a diversion order diverting any part of the line of a path from a site in the area of one highway authority to a site in the area of another may provide that the coming into operation of the order shall not discharge any liability to repair of the first mentioned authority or impose any such liability on the last mentioned authority.

(4) A diversion order or extinguishment order shall not be made so as to extinguish a right of way over land on, over or under which there is any apparatus belonging to statutory undertakers unless the undertakers consent to the making of the order, and any such consent may be given subject to the condition that there are included in the order such provisions for the protection of the undertakers as they may reasonably require.

The consent of statutory undertakers to any such order shall not be unreasonably refused, and any question arising under this subsection whether any requirement or refusal is reasonable shall be determined by the appropriate Minister.