Fareste and myself went off to play on the Openwood Gate branch of the Little Eaton and Denby Gangroad.. we were taking some pics at the near the old Salterwood brick works and found a side PF path as below... time for a paddle!! Whilst we were not going that route, whoever was would have needed web feet or the use of the very temporary rickety gate (forming a bridge) thrown over nearby, the stream is 2 feet deep and about 7 feet wide... This seems to be becoming a common thing on my travels were paths are often dangerous, completely overgrown or having never seen no maintenance for years... so whose job is it to maintain them....? Are there routes for complaint as certainly where I live they are aweful... the latest one is people using the posts of stiles as barb wire fence post so you rip your clothes as you go even though the way is not blocked!!
🔗Personal-Album-856-Image-38410[linkphoto]Personal-Album-856-Image-38410[/linkphoto][/link]

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ask the green laners
as far as i know paths, bways and lanes and roads are the same legally as rites of way
highways agencyor local council are responsible
the ramblers assciation will know all the detail

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the ramblers assciation will know all the detail

FEEEHHH! 'kin Chelsea nazi's - keep away!

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There should be someone in the local council looking after Rights of Way.

I've followed a couple of public footpaths recently where a less generous minded person than myself might think the landowner was being deliberatley obstructive.

A brand new fence across the path. A six foot drop excavated. Low shrubs planted so the only way forward is to crawl! And this with a path that connects to the Cleveland way. :guns:

Each County Council or Authority must have either a Footpaths Officer or a Rights of Way Officer who have the power to compel basic maintenance of Rights of Way. (Having said that some counties take the issue of public rights of way more seriously than others).

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Hi Iclok - the lowest tier of Local Government responsible for maintenance of public footpaths is the Parish Council in whose parish the footpath is. They are given money for footpath maintenance, attend the next Parish Meeting (which are held monthly with the exception of August), then wait for the meeting to be thrown open to the Public and get up and have your say, show them where it is on a map and quote the footpath number. However, the best plan in the first instance before attending the Parish Council Meeting is to visit Amber Valley District Council where there should be a Footpaths Officer, request to see the definitive footpath map (I think from memory that they were defined by an Act of Parliament of 1932), show the Officer where the footpath is and get the number of the footpath (all footpaths and bridle roads are numbered but are in different classifications). The Footpaths Officer will then go out and have a look at the blockage or obstruction and should do something about it. Also Derbyshire County Council has a Footpath Officer, but stretching my memory back thirty odd years I think that is more when mineral workings are involved, and footpaths are disturbed and diversions of footpaths have to be set up. Don't forget also if a footpath is diverted, to see how long the diversion is for (it can be for many years sometimes) and if one is around when it should be reinstated, check on it and make sure it's made good - sometimes they get conveniently forgotten.

Finally remember if the footpath is on the definative map then you have the right to walk it, even if a ploughed field (when I worked in a Hampshire Divisional Surveyors Office we often got complaints about footpaths being ploughed over), but the only right you have is to walk in single file, not in pairs or just straggle all over the field. In the Peak District in the past we've been met by angry farmers waving shotguns. People have to walk these paths and fight to protect them, so the best of luck - if you need any further help please contact me.

Regarding the Ramblers Association the above proceedure is what they usually follow, sometimes the R.A. are of help (I learnt a lot from my friend whom I told you about, she was a Vice President of Derby R.A.) but sometimes it's easier to visit the Footpaths Officer at the Local Council oneself. (p.s. That exam I passed I told you about still comes in useful!)

Ditzy - there is no such thing as a green lane! I learnt that many years ago. If it's not a footpath or bridle road it is then classified as an unclassified highway and becomes the responsibilty of the Ministry of Transport. Incidently Police have the power to stop underage drivers on unclassified highways as my young sons found out many years ago. They were picked up on Bonsall Moor driving a go-cart that oldest son (unbeknown to me) had fitted a lawn motor engine to.

Dear Sougher... as always a mine (excuse the pun) of information... they used to be good around here but I have noticed more and more that unless the path carries lots of walkers and tourists less is being done... so some of the paths around Crich for instance are now impassable... Ashover too.... I will take your advise and kick off a bit... some of the paths were very popular but since nature took over folks don't bother... I mean why would you wade thru 100yds of 6 foot Blackberry bushes.... 😮 ouch!

hope you well

regs ICLOK

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Dear Iclok - I think Crich footpaths will come under Derbyshire Dales District Council at the Town Hall, Matlock. They definately will have a Footpath Officer, as one of our friends was a former one before she moved to Derbyshire County Council as Footpaths Officer there. It was quite a lonely job so occasionally we used to accompany her, (my R.A. friend, myself and Tessa my Rottweiler) when she went to investigate, we'd stay a fair distance back as we weren't suppose to be with her, I learnt a lot about footpaths from these investigations. Stiles also have a bad habit of being deliberately obstructed as well as undergrowth growing over footpaths with them not being walked. Our Footpath Officer friend always carried gardening gloves and sycatares with her which she tried to clear a path with, if possible. But that is what some of the annual income that is given to Parish Councils is for - footpath maintenance, often a linesman was employed pre-1974 Local Government reform, but now a part time man is employed. Ashover (from memory) comes under one of the Chesterfield Local Authorities - Derbyshire Dales District Council will advise you which one. Openwoodgate is Belper, so I think comes under Amber Valley. Incidently since the Definative Maps were drawn up in 1932 there have been other Acts of Parliament passed either amending or adding to it.

An example of fighting to keep a footpath open was at Wensley. A mineral contractor left his son a large piece of land with a delerict barn on it at Trogues Dungeons at the top of Wensley Dale, on the south of the Wensley/Winster road (near Winster Pits lead mine). He obtained planing permission from the Peak Park Planning Board to build a large detached house, and after moving in he stopped the footpath up from the top of the dale to where it crossed through the stile by Basrobin or Tearsall sough (have forgotten the name for the moment). From time immemorial villagers and walkers had walked this footpath, my RA friend and myself went to Derbyshire Dales and viewed the Definative map to find that this part of the footpath had not been adopted as a definative footpath way back in 1932. There was however, another footpath leading off this one in this part of the dale, up the side of the dale exiting onto the road through a stile called "Ragbag" stile onto Gurder bends (which is haunted by a "boggart" called "Old Mary" - but thats another tale). Well he blocked this stile, threatened anyone who walked it and the outcome was a Public Enquiry at the Burton Institute at Winster, the Inspector declared that the small footpath leading up to Ragbag stile was a definative one and must be kept open also the stile leading into his part of the dale from the main dale. Just proves that if one gives battle, one can win, we did however, get the R.A. to join in the battle with us plus villagers, so it was a combined effort.

Hope you're okay.

Kind regards,
M

p.s. Taking some of your excellent photographs with you when you visit the respective Local Authorities, of the blocked footpaths and stiles that you want investigating will help the Footpath Officer tremendously. In fact see if you can get a copy of the parish you're interested in with the numbered footpaths and bridle roads on it. They are large scale maps but I've forgotten the scale. Somewhere I have the Bonsall parish footpath map, will try and look it out for you, you might find it useful.

I've followed a couple of public footpaths recently where a less generous minded person than myself might think the landowner was being deliberatley obstructive.

I have seen a number of paths in my time where the only way to tell where the ROW ran was the EXTRA barbed wire etc. along its route.

Rick

RA can be a bit trying, I have had some pointless run-ins with them on pipeline spreads ( temporary diversions of footpaths for safety reasons are a particular bete noire with them ) but they are about the only organisation with sufficient clout to get anything done. If you are trying this kind of access battle there is no value in being divided amongst yourselves.

it does indeed, depend on the local authorities. I tried to walk part of the Cornwall Coast path in the late 80s and it was hopeless, the path consisted in places of a narrow lane between the typical 'Cornish hedges' ( head-high banks of earth and large rocks ) and it was comletely impassable, often consisting of dense undergrowths of brambles as tall as the lane itself. Once a path becomes overgrown in this fashion, it is unlikely ever to be walked again.

many tens of miles of footpaths have been lost in East Anglia and the East Midlands in this fashion; few people walk them in Northants, Cambs and Leics and the farmers simply plough them up wholesale with the connivance of the local authorities. I'm particularly reminded of the Roman Road which once stretched about 11 miles from Beech Wood near Cambridge, via Wandlebury to Linton; but now only exists as a few isolated, overgrown fragments whose main use is as a racetrack for motocross bikes.

It was also common for land agents to bring what were , effectively, vexatious litigation to the effect that so-and-so was two or three metres off the line as shown on the map and therefore trespasing. The legal validity is debatable, but the harassment value is considerable and local walkers faced with the prospect of a pointless, expensive court appearance soon gave up and went elsewhere.

It has to be said that the primary function of a very high proportion of footpaths has long since disappeared. I do have a certain amount of sympathy with the farmers ( although I wouldn't over-extend that, especially since my experiences of working on a pipeline spread during the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic.. )

the Ridgeway has a long history of obstruction and damage by landowners, from tearing up of long stretches of waterpipe to deliberate rutting of the wide verges ( originally intended to serve as camping space ) in some areas.

my personal view is that only those footpaths used in con junction with tourist traffic have any viable long-term future 😞

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p.s. Taking some of your excellent photographs with you when you visit the respective Local Authorities, of the blocked footpaths and stiles that you want investigating will help the Footpath Officer tremendously. In fact see if you can get a copy of the parish you're interested in with the numbered footpaths and bridle roads on it. They are large scale maps but I've forgotten the scale. Somewhere I have the Bonsall parish footpath map, will try and look it out for you, you might find it useful.

I think the definitive maps are either 1:5000 or 1:2500, but it's about 20 years since I last saw one so I could be mistaken. I have mixed feelings about the RA, although they can do a good job in providing the necessary expertise and backup to keep footpaths open, I remember in my native village up on the North York Moors they objected to one footpath alteration because it increased the length of the footpath, then objected to another alteration on the grounds it reduced the length of the footpath.....

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Thanks AR. One has to be open minded about the RA and use one's discretion as and when to use them, they do have a lot of clout though with Local Authorities and can be especially helpful if an Inspector holds a footpath enquiry like the one I described at Wensley. Another organisation I'm rather wary of is The Council for the Preservation of Rural England.

It's sad that the old footpaths are fast falling into decline across the UK and only the popular ones being walked, but one has to move with the times. Walking in the countryside has vastly changed over the past seventy odd years because of the decrease in public transport and the increase of private transport i.e. motor cycles, cars, then 4x4's. One tends to go out for a day's walking nowadays, whereas in my youth there were masses of young people who went youth hostelling at a weekend. Being transported by car or bus to the hostel was banned and we had to either walk from the nearest market town or cycle to reach the hostel. We were quite hardy, thinking nothing of walking on a Sunday between fifteen to twenty five miles, sometimes in the Dales, the Gritstone edges of the Peak or the barrenness of Kinder Scout and Bleaklow in the north, in all kinds of weather even blizzards. We had none of the fancy kit that one sees around today, ours was all ex-army but we dressed for the weather, we carried torches and walked in the dark, we also took precautions and could rescue ourselves in an emergency - in those days there was no ringing on a mobile phone for a helicopter to come to the rescue! So, yes I must agree a lot of definative footpaths are going to be lost.

All my sons work in the construction trade, two in brown land reclaimation, they all operate heavy machinery; I have friends in the spar business so I can see aguements from both sides about the blocking and unblocking of footpaths, especially as I was a Local Government Officer for many years and experienced these problems at first hand. However, I feel it worth while to try and save something like this footbridge that Icok has found without too much of an ado.

On the subject of overgrown footpaths... is there a law against taking a cutting tool such as a machete or mini scythe with you on walks? Several times i have wanted to explore old mine ruins and they have been inaccessible due to overgrown paths etc... It would be nice to be able to carry a blade large enough to cut away at said overgrowth.

If the blade is sheathed when not in use or kept in a bag then is it ok or is it still a no-no?

I do.... typically take late Grandfathers Midland Railway hedge laying tool, secaturs, and a good stick for bramble bashing... my rule as long as you ain't destroying the fabric of the path.. but I wouldn't apply that rule on restored mining remains unless you wanna get a summons for wilful damage... as the tree huggers and council will claim you are damaging the site unless of course they do it!.... badly....
Re overgrown or totally abandoned sites I openly admit to having done a little pruning 😉

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As far as I know there isn't. As previously said my Footpath Officer friend always carried gardening gloves and a pair of secateurs with her for her to cut a way or clear a stile if it was possible. However, do bear in mind that a footpath is only the width of one person, so one can only cut one person's width through the undergrowth of a designated footpath. Step one foot off the footpath and you're on someone's private property. If for instance one is faced with a ten foot high bramble patch it can be rather daunting. Best then approach the Local Authority's Footpath Officer. Get a copy of the Definative Footpath map for the Parish that you're walking in, find it's number, take photos if necessary and why not pay the Parish Council Meeting a visit, they have money in their funds for footpath maintenance.

Sougher - I think the problem with organisations like the RA and CPRE is that your opinion of them can be very heavily coloured by individuals within their ranks - some are sensible, pragmatic, diplomatic and keen to negotiate mutually agreeable solutions, whilst others are dogmatic, blinkered, obstructive $%&*wits who put landowners backs up. All on the luck of the draw, I suppose!

I'm not walking as much as I used to mainly due to my wife's ongoing health problems, but I used to go all over the place in ex-army kit (best coat I've ever owned was an old East German border guard's parka) and trust to my own fieldcraft to see me safe home, and definitely no mobile phone! My wife and I used to be quite contemptuous of these types wandering around in the latest designer kit, who curiously you never seem to see out on the tops in horizontal rain! When we first moved down to the Peak 5 years ago we quite often bussed over to Castleton or Matlock and walked back to Flagg, finding High Rake on one of these walks is what prompted me to join PDMHS and now look what's happened to me.....

Tezarcheon - don't carry anything other than a folding pocket knife with a blade less than 3" as you would need to show good cause to have anything else with you. You might get away with a machete, slasher or bill if you were going to a specific site to deal with something specific, but carrying it on the off-chance of meeting an overgrown patch is very unlikely to wash in court. Take a pocket knife, secateurs and a stick.

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Actually AR thats not a bad point... I do only go to deal with a specific objective... I don't usually carry a hedge laying tool.... 😎

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It is a matter of regret that some old customs have died out. When, in days of old, a "road" became impassable due to, say, winter rains, the travellers would simply "move" the road a few yards by travelling to one side, much as happens today on the hills. This, we are told, is causing footpaths up mountains to become overly wider. However, one only has to look at places where modern roads climb over steep escarpments to see in the landscape a series of parallel ridges where successive lines of the road once ran. Confronted by a modern right of way, I wonder if the medieval traveller would simply exert his "right" of way by using the nearest convenient alternative to complete his journey. If such a ruling were made today, that anyone wishing to use a heavily overgrown and neglected route was within his/her rights to choose the nearest alternative, which might be walking the other side of a stone wall for example, perhaps wilful neglect of some paths might be less common.

Well said Peter!

It was strange that during the Mountain biking era in the Peak when paths got routinely trashed forcing people to find alternative routes past ruined sections that the Peak Park soon got off its A**e and legislated plus narrowed access and repaired fences ... in fact in some places the mountain bikes did us a favour...

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Gwynedd Council have a website for reporting path problems. I came across a blocked path near Sling, Bethesda last week, reported it via the website, had acknowledgment 2 days later that they had passed it on to the local council, and yesterday when passing the path, a man with a billhook and strimmer was hard at work.

Robin