Most common problems
In an ideal world, all footpaths would be clear and accessible throughout
their length, but unfortunately this is not always the case. Peak & Northern
inspectors regularly monitor paths in their parishes, but you also can
help improve the quality of our paths by reporting any problems to the society,
using the problem reporting
form. We are not able to accept problem reports by telephone.
Problems which should be reported include Obstructions, Stiles, Bridges, Animals, Surface Condition, and Signs.
Obstructions
Obstructions of the way constitute the most serious problems, such as:
- Barbed wire, e.g. across stiles or around gates. You are entitled to remove
any such obstruction, but you must be certain that it lies on the line of
the path.
- Electrified fences.
- Crops and ploughing. Briefly, a farmer is allowed to disturb the surface
of a path but must reinstate within 14 days. Headland paths (field edge
paths) must not be ploughed.
- Landslips.
- Large holes. These are often caused by open-cast mining or quarrying.
- Streams or ditches which cannot easily be crossed. Because of modern
excavation machinery, some dykes have been widened or deepened to such
an extent that crossing is impossible without a bridge.
- Buildings. These can include farm buildings, housing, industrial development,
road construction or widening, extended gardens, car parks, golf courses,
sports pitches, etc.
- Locked gates. (Or those very difficult to open.)
- By person, for instance ‘get off my land’. Try to encourage the person to do
all the talking, to ascertain when they believe the path was diverted
or closed, so that a full report can be submitted. You will have to decide,
based on the circumstances, whether to proceed or gracefully withdraw.
Stiles and Bridges
A stile or bridge which is is difficult and/or dangerous to use should
be reported. Walkers vary immensely in agility and head for heights, so
a stile which an athletic rock climber will enjoy scrambling over in fifteen
seconds may be so defective that most other walkers will take several
frightening minutes to get over it. Please apply the test ‘Can this right
of way be used safely and easily by everyone who is likely to walk it?'
Every stile should have a stepboard and a secure handhold – without these
it is merely a fence.
Animals
- Horses. Ridden horses are allowed on bridleways
and Byways Open to All Traffic (BOATs), but not on footpaths. However
farmers may allow riders to use a field through which a path passes,
so you could legally meet a horse and rider on a footpath. Horses may
also be turned loose to graze in fields crossed by rights of way. There
are two concerns with horses on rights of way: damage to path
surface from hooves, and lack of room on enclosed paths for walkers
to pass. Please report if you encounter either of these situations.
- Hounds. Most cause no problem to the walker
but others most certainly do. Does the presence of the dog or dogs deter
walkers from using the way? If the answer is "yes", then a report
is appropriate. Watch out for dogs which are chained, but with a chain
long enough to allow the dog access to the path line.
- Bulls. Footpath law regarding bulls is rather
complex and detailed more fully in Rights of Way – a Guide to Law and
Practice. The society’s advice
to all path users is to take extreme care.
Surface Condition
Where the path surface is boggy, covered by water, mud, dung, overgrown
vegetation, or ruts, and these problems cannot easily be
bypassed, so that walking over the way is much more arduous than users
should reasonably expect in such a location having regard to prevailing
weather, then these should be reported.
Signs
- False or misleading signs. For instance a PRIVATE ROAD sign displayed
on a farm track which may be private, but which also carries a public
footpath. In this case we would invite the local authority to erect a countering
Public Footpath sign alongside.
- Missing, damaged or obscured signs where the path meets a road.
Local authorities have a statutory duty to indicate the route of a right
of way where it leaves a metalled road. Before reporting that a sign is
missing, please check whether:
- it is present but is hidden by vegetation or is in a place
where you would not expect to find it (in which case please report accordingly)
- you have accurately identified the end of the right of way:
sometimes a farm gate is mistaken for the start of the way, when the
actual way is concealed in a hedge further along the road, with a signpost
adjacent
Related pages
What you can do
Report a problem to us
Inspection Website
Inspection Video
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