FOOTPATH
INFORMATION
(updated
May 2008)
Most
of this information comes from the RA website
The
Somerset Ramblers' Association area contains nine groups, of which seven
are area based
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FOOTPATH
INFORMATION |
The Ramblers' Association is a national organisation which exists to facilitate the enjoyment and discovery on foot of Britain's countryside. | Most
of this information comes from the RA website |
| The
Somerset Ramblers' Association area contains nine groups, of which seven
are area based |
||
| ALL
ABOUT FOOTPATHS and a little on FOOTPATH LAW |
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| A RIGHT of WAY is a path that anyone has the legal right to use on foot, and sometimes using other modes of transport. The four main types of right of way are detailed opposite |
• Public
footpaths are open only to walkers |
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| Your legal
right is to "pass and
repass along the way". You may stop to rest or admire
the view, or to consume refreshments, providing you stay on the path
and do not cause an obstruction. You can take a dog with you, but you must
ensure it is under close control. Note that there is no requirement
for stiles to be suitable for use by dogs. |
On outdated maps you will still find "RUPP"s marked. There had always been uncertainty surrounding the definition of these 'roads used as a public path' and whether or not they could be used by vehicles. The term BOAT was subsequently introduced, along with a requirement for all RUPPs to be reclassified as either footpaths, bridleways or BOATs. However due to lack of funding, many authorities did not devote sufficient resources to this work, which often resulted in lengthy public inquiries. To remedy this problem the Government introduced a further class of highway, the Restricted Byway. When the CROW Act was enacted this reclassification was without prejudice to whether there might be a right for mechanically propelled vehicles, leaving open the possibility of applications being made to “upgrade” Restricted Byways to BOATs based on vehicular evidence of use. However, the introduction of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 which has, subject to certain exceptions, extinguished rights for mechanically propelled vehicles means that this is unlikely. From May 2006, all remaining RUPPs were automatically reclassified as Restricted Byways |
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| In
most cases, trespass is a civil rather than a criminal matter. A landowner
may use "reasonable force" to compel a trespasser to leave, but not more
than is reasonably necessary. Unless injury
to the property can be proven, a landowner could probably
only recover nominal damages
by suing for trespass. But of course you might have to meet the landowner's
legal costs. Thus a notice saying "Trespassers will be Prosecuted", aimed
for instance at keeping you off a private drive, is usually meaningless.
Criminal prosecution could only arise if you trespass and damage property.
However, under public order law, trespassing with an intention to reside
may be a criminal offence under some circumstances. It is also a criminal
offence to trespass on railway land and sometimes on military training
land. |
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| The
safest evidence of public rights of way is the official
‘definitive map’ of. These maps are available
for public inspection at the offices of local surveying authorities. Some
are also available in libraries and some are sold by the councils concerned.
In addition, public rights of way information derived from them, as amended
by subsequent orders is shown by the Ordnance
Survey on its Explorer and
Landranger maps |
Some rights
of way are not yet shown on definitive maps. These can quite properly
be used, and application may be made to surveying authorities for them
to be added to the map. The inner London boroughs are not required to
produce definitive maps, though this does not mean there are no rights
of way in inner London. |
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| There are many paths
that the public is able to use that are not legally rights of way and
do not enjoy the same protection. One of the main types of these are permissive paths and some of them, particularly in areas well visited by the public, are maked by orange dashes on ordnance survey maps. Another type are paths crossing public parks and open spaces, commons and other sites to which the public has formal or de facto access. (Some of these are rights of Way) Yet another type are towpaths, paths across land owned by organisations such as the Forestry Commission and National Trust who have a policy of providing access, and off-road multi-user routes such as those created as part of the Sustrans National Cycle Network. (Again some may be rights of way) |
The permissive routes,
are open to the public because the owner has given permission for them
to be used: often there is a notice on the path making clear the owner
has no intention of dedicating the path as a right of way, and reserving
the right to withdraw the permission. These paths are sometimes closed
for one day a year, with a view to preventing claims that they are rights
of way. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 provides a right of access to mapped areas of mountain, moor land, down land, heath land and registered common land be it on tracks and paths or off them. For more information on the ‘Freedom to Roam’ provisions of the Act, see the Ramblers Association website |
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| In legal theory most paths become rights of way because the owner "dedicates" them to public use. In fact very few paths have been formally dedicated, but the law assumes that if the public uses a path without interference for some period of time - set by statute at 20 years - then the owner had intended to dedicate it as a right of way. A public path that has been unused for 20 years does not cease to be public (except in Scotland). The legal maxim is "once a highway, always a highway". |
The surface of the path is for most purposes considered to belong to the highway authority. What this means is that the authority owns the surface of the way and so much of the soil below and the air above as is necessary for the control, protection and maintenance of the highway. The rest normally belongs to the owner of the surrounding land. Paths can also be created by agreement between local authorities and owners or by compulsory order, subject, in the case of objection, to confirmation by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, or the National Assembly for Wales. |
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| Horse
riders have a right to use
bridleways, restricted byways and
byways open to all traffic. They have no right to use
footpaths and if they do so they are committing a trespass against the
owner of the land, unless the use is by permission. If use of a footpath
by riders becomes a nuisance the local authority can ban them with a traffic
regulation order. This makes such use a criminal offence rather than an
act of trespass. Pedal cyclists have a right to use bridleways, restricted byways and byways open to all traffic, but on bridleways they must give way to walkers and riders. Like horse riders, they have no right to use footpaths and if they do so they are committing a trespass against the owner of the land, unless use is by permission. As with horse-riding, use of any right of way by cyclists can be controlled by traffic regulation orders and byelaws imposed by local authorities. Infringement of byelaws or orders is a criminal offence. Under the Highways Act 1835, it is an offence to ride a bicycle on the pavement at the side of a road, and under the Fixed Penalty Offences Order 1999 a person who rides on a pavement can be fined on the spot by a police officer. |
Anyone who drives a
motor vehicle on a footpath or bridleway
without permission is committing an offence.
This does not apply if the driver stays within 15 yards of the road, only
goes on the path to park and does not obstruct the right of passage. The
owner of the land, however, can still order vehicles off even within 15
yards from the road. Races or speed trials on paths are forbidden. Permission
for other types of trials on paths may be sought from the local authority,
if the landowner consents. |
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| The council
that has principle responsibility for rights
of way in a particular area, known as the Highway
Authority, is either
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The Highway Authorities
may sometimes assign some of their responsibilities to other authorities.
District councils may, by agreement, take over path maintenance and other
duties from county councils. Parish and community councils also have the
power to maintain paths (see the RA leaflet Paths
for People). In National Parks, the National Park Authority sometimes
takes over some or all of the responsibilities for rights of way.
As well as preparing and
maintaining the definitive maps, highway authorities have a general duty
"to assert and protect the rights of the public to the use and enjoyment"
of paths in their area. They are legally responsible for maintaining the
surface of the path, including bridges, and keeping it free of overgrowth.
They have the power to require owners to cut back overhanging growth from
the side of a path. |
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| A
path should be whatever width
was dedicated for public use. This width may have arisen through usage,
or by formal agreement, or by order, for example if the path has been
diverted. The width may be recorded in the statement accompanying the
definitive map but in many cases the proper width will be a matter of
past practice on that particular path. Note the width of the right of
way itself may be greater, or sometimes less, than the width of any track
or hard-surfaced strip along the route. |
Paths
are numbered and are shown
on the definitive maps. (Occasionaslly you will also see these numbers
used on signs and waymarks). Different local authorities use different systems of numbering, and paths are often numbered on a parish or community basis, so path numbers are not very useful as an aid to navigation, only as a means of referring to an individual path for legal purposes. |
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| Highway
authorities have a duty to
put up signposts at all
junctions of footpaths, bridleways and byways with metalled roads. The
signs must show whether a path is a footpath, bridleway or byway and may
also show other information such as destination and distance. Highway authorities also have a duty to waymark paths along the route so far as they consider it appropriate |
Waymarking
is a means of indicating the line or direction of a path away from metalled
roads at points where it may be difficult to follow. In Britain it is
normally done with arrow markings on gates, stiles and posts. Natural
England and the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) recommends a standard
system of colour-coded arrows - yellow for footpaths, blue for bridleways
and red for byways. Waymarking is also used to indicate specially promoted routes like long distance paths, circular walks, nature trails and so on. Where these routes follow public rights of way, the route name or logo is often used in addition to or in combination with the standard waymark. |
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| Maintaining
gates and stiles on paths
is primarily the owner's responsibility,
but the highway authority (or the district council if it is maintaining
the path) must, in certain cases, contribute 25% of the cost if asked
and may contribute more if it wishes. If stiles and gates are not kept
in proper repair the authority can, after 14 days' notice, do the job
itself and send the bill to the owner. |
The landowner cannot
put up new gates and stiles without seeking and getting permission from
the highway authority in circumstances where a stile or gate is necessary
to prevent the movement of animals and then complying with any conditions
to that permission. |
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| It is
illegal to plough up or
disturb the surface of a path so as to make it inconvenient to use unless
the path is a footpath or bridleway running across
a field as opposed to running alongside the field boundary.
In this case the landowner can plough or otherwise disturb the path surface
provided it is not reasonably convenient to avoid doing so. The path must
be restored within 24 hours of the disturbance, or within
two weeks if this is the first such disturbance for a particular crop.
The restored path must be reasonably convenient to use, have a minimum
width of 1m for a footpath or 2m for a bridleway,
or the legal width if known, and its line must be clearly apparent on
the ground. |
If a path surface has
been disturbed but not restored a highway authority may serve notice on
the occupier and, if necessary, then restore the path itself and send
the bill to the occupier. The authority may also prosecute the person
responsible for the disturbance. The landowner has a duty to prevent a crop (other than grass) from making the path difficult to find or follow. The minimum widths for a field-edge path are increased to 1.5m for a footpath, 3m for a bridleway. You have every right to walk through crops growing on or over a path, but stick as close as you can to its correct line. Report the problem to the highway authority: it has power to prosecute the landowner or cut the crop and send the owner the bill. |
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A path obstruction
is anything which interferes with your right to use it. Examples would
be a heap of manure dumped on a path, barbed wire placed directly across
a path or on a stile in such a way as to make its use difficult or dangerous.
Other things that can count as obstruction are:
• Locking a gate, or securing it with string or rope so that the fastening cannot be readily undone, • Erecting a stile across the gap in a ‘squeezer’ stile, • Putting an electric fence across the line of a path, or • Extending the boundary of a garden over a path. for example a barbed wire fence across the path or a heap of manure dumped on it. |
You can remove an obstruction to get by provided that you are a bona fide traveller on the path and have not gone out for the specific purpose of moving the obstruction, and that you remove only as much as is necessary to get through. If you can easily go round the obstruction without causing any damage, then you should do so. But report. the obstruction to the highway authority and/or the RA. Dense undergrowth is not normally treated as an obstruction but is dealt with under path maintenance Highways authorities have a duty "to prevent as far as possible the stopping up or obstruction" of paths. |
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Dogs
have been taken on highways since
time immemorial, and it seems likely that, if ever challenged in the courts,
they would be considered a ‘usual
accompaniment’ and hence permissible on footpaths.
There is no law specifying that they must be kept on a lead, but local authorities can make an order under section 27 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 to introduce this as a requirement on designated highways. Additionally, the dog must be allowed to walk only along the line of the path. An act of trespass may be committed against the land holder if it wanders too far away from the official route. |
Walkers with dogs should take particular caution when crossing through fields containing livestock. Section 1 of the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 makes it an offence for a dog to be at large, ‘that is to say not on a lead or otherwise under close control’, in a field or enclosure containing sheep. It is also an offence for dogs to attack or chase livestock, and farmers are permitted to shoot dogs that are worrying, or are about to worry, farm animals. |
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A farmer can keep a
bull in a field crossed
by a public path of up to ten months
old. Bulls over ten months of a recognised dairy breed (Ayrshire, British
Friesian, British Holstein, Dairy Shorthorn, Guernsey, Jersey and Kerry)
are banned from fields crossed by public paths under all circumstances.
All other bulls over ten months
are banned unless accompanied by cows or
heifers. (Section 59 of the Wildlife & Countryside
Act 1981). If any bulls act in a way which endangers the public, an offence
may be committed under health and safety legislation. |
A landowner cannot close
or divert a path. This can only be carried out by local authorities or
central government. |
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| A highway
authority can make an order to close a path if it considers
the path is no longer needed for public use. A notice must be published
in a local paper and also placed at both ends of the path. At least 28
days must be allowed for objections. These must be heard at a public inquiry
taken by an inspector from the Planning Inspectorate,
or by hearing (less formal than an inquiry), or they may be considered
in writing if the objectors agree. The procedure for diversions is the same as for closure orders. These may not take place if the new route will be substantially less convenient to the public than the existing one, and account must also be taken of the effect the diversion will have on public enjoyment of the path as a whole. |
If you have any doubts
about the legality of a change to a path, contact the highway
authority. Paths may also be closed or diverted "in order to enable development to be carried out in accordance with planning permission". There are also provisions for highway authorities to apply to magistrates courts for closure or diversion of paths, and for orders to be made in other circumstances such as the construction of new roads, railways and reservoirs, both on a permanent and temporary basis. Notice of temporary orders must be given on site; however there is no specified procedure for objections. |
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| A misleading
notice is a notice calculated to deter you from using
a public right of way (e.g. a notice saying PRIVATE at the point where
a path enters a park).
Although the provision of warning notices is a legal requirement for guard dogs, and is recommended by the HSE where bulls are kept on rights of way, it is also an offence to display such signs in order to deter someone from using a footpath, bridleway or byway by providing false information. For example, a landowner may erect a sign saying ‘Danger, beware of the dog’ when there is no dog present, or the dog does not have access to the footpath. Such notices should be
reported immediately to the highway authority. They are illegal on paths
shown on the definitive map. |
Help
the Ramblers' Association deal with path problems in the following way
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