Green lane access law runs on a small set of acronyms and Acts that get thrown around constantly, and rarely explained in one place. Here's every term in plain English, with a link to the full explainer where one exists.
BOAT · Bridleway · CROW Act · Definitive Map and Statement · DMMO · Footpath · GLASS · Highways Act 1980 · List of Streets · MPV · NERC Act 2006 · ORPA · PINS · Restricted byway · Section 53 · TRF · TRO · UCR · WCA 1981
BOAT (Byway Open to All Traffic)
A Byway Open to All Traffic is a public right of way legal for every kind of traffic, including motorcycles. It's the one rights-of-way classification that grants an unambiguous right to ride a motor vehicle. See our full classification guide for how it differs from a UCR or a restricted byway.
Bridleway
A bridleway grants rights to walkers, horse riders and cyclists. It carries no right for a motor vehicle of any kind, however wide or well used the track looks.
CROW Act (Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000)
The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 reshaped public access rights across England and Wales and set a cut-off date, originally 2026, deferred to 2031, and now facing outright repeal, for claiming unrecorded historic footpaths and bridleways specifically. It has nothing to do with BOATs or UCRs, those had a separate, already-passed 2006 cut-off. See Section 53 explained for both deadlines properly untangled.
Definitive Map and Statement
The Definitive Map and Statement is the actual legal record of every public right of way in an area, maintained by the county or unitary council. Everything else, an OS map, an app, a rowmaps download, is someone's representation of it. Read the full explainer on what the Definitive Map is and why it matters.
DMMO (Definitive Map Modification Order)
A Definitive Map Modification Order is the formal process a council uses to add, correct or reclassify a route on the Definitive Map. It can upgrade a route or downgrade one, removing a motor vehicle's right to ride it. See how to object to one before a decision goes against a lane you ride.
Footpath
A footpath grants rights to walkers only. No cyclists, no horse riders, and no motor vehicles of any kind.
GLASS (Green Lane Association)
GLASS, the Green Lane Association, is an independent group working to protect legal vehicular access to green lanes, alongside the TRF. Membership funds real access work and its own Trailwise mapping. See what you can do to help keep lanes open, including joining GLASS or the TRF.
Highways Act 1980
The Highways Act 1980 sets out the general legal framework for public highways in England and Wales, including the rights of way that can exist on them and a council's own List of Streets. See what the law actually says about riding a green lane.
List of Streets
A council's List of Streets, kept under Section 36 of the Highways Act 1980, is its register of highways maintainable at public expense. It's often pointed to as evidence for an Unclassified County Road, but the courts have confirmed it isn't conclusive on its own, a road can be a highway without being on the list, and being on the list doesn't automatically confirm one either. Worth remembering next to a UCR's own narrower legal footing in our classification guide.
MPV (Mechanically Propelled Vehicle)
MPV is the term the actual legislation uses for a motorcycle or any other motorised vehicle, rather than naming specific vehicle types. Whether a route grants rights to an MPV, not merely to a vehicle in general, is the real legal question that decides whether you can ride it. See what the law actually says.
NERC Act 2006 (Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act)
The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 is the Act that actually extinguished unrecorded historic vehicular rights, the kind of evidence that could support a new BOAT or UCR claim, back in 2006, subject to a handful of narrow exceptions. It's a completely separate cut-off from the CROW Act's own footpath and bridleway deadline, and the two get confused constantly. See Section 53 explained for both untangled properly.
ORPA (Other Route with Public Access)
A rare, legacy classification with genuinely ambiguous legal status, a leftover from before the current system settled. Treat it with real caution and verify before riding, covered alongside every other type in our classification guide.
PINS (The Planning Inspectorate)
PINS is the Planning Inspectorate, the body that decides an opposed Definitive Map Modification Order on behalf of the Secretary of State, once a council refers it on. See how it fits into a real DMMO objection.
Restricted byway
A restricted byway grants rights to walkers, horse riders, cyclists and non-mechanically propelled vehicles, a horse-drawn carriage, for instance. No motor vehicles, regardless of surface or width.
Section 53
Section 53 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is the mechanism for recording, correcting or extinguishing rights of way on the Definitive Map, the same provision a DMMO is actually made under. Read the full explainer on the historic-claims deadline it also carries.
TRF (Trail Riders Fellowship)
The Trail Riders Fellowship is the main body representing motorcyclists' interests in green lane access across England and Wales, responding to TRO consultations and DMMO applications on riders' behalf. See what membership actually gets you.
TRO (Traffic Regulation Order)
A Traffic Regulation Order restricts or bans motor vehicle use on a route, temporarily or permanently, without changing its underlying legal classification. A BOAT under a TRO is still a BOAT, just not currently rideable. See how the TRO process actually works.
UCR (Unclassified County Road)
An Unclassified County Road is usually legal to ride, but its legal footing is narrower than a BOAT's, sitting on a council's List of Streets rather than necessarily confirmed on the Definitive Map with the same statutory certainty. Always check current status rather than assume, covered in the same classification guide.
WCA 1981 (Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981)
The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is the Act that created the modern Definitive Map system, and the Section 53 process every DMMO runs through. It's the legal backbone underneath almost everything else in this glossary, covered in what the Definitive Map is and why it matters.
Keep this bookmarked
None of these terms are complicated once you've seen them defined properly, the confusion mostly comes from meeting them for the first time in a council letter or a forum argument with no context. Holloway's own map shows every lane's real classification, hazards and current status for free, so you can check a specific lane rather than just the general rule. Holloway Premium, at £20 a year, adds full route planning, GPX export and live navigation for when you're ready to plan a whole day rather than one lane.