Highway authorities

There are 35 local government councils acting as highway authorities in the area covered by the Peak & Northern Footpaths Society. Highway authorities are responsible for managing public rights of way. Most councils publish interactive maps which allow you to explore their area and to identify public rights of way. Additionally Barry Cornelius at www.rowmaps.com has obtained digital mapping data showing public rights of way from many councils. He has converted it into KML files that you can freely download for use in Google Earth. This page guides you to the information and map pages for the highway authorities in our area.

Find the council you're interested in by moving your mouse over the map or inspecting the A-Z or county list. The buttons next to council names (absent if no data is available) are:

RoW	takes you to the Rights of Way page on the council's web site.
Map	takes you to the footpath map on the council's web site.
map?	there is no footpath map on the council's web site, but the button takes you to the rowmaps site where you can get a map by searching for a place name or postcode.
KML	takes you to page at www.rowmaps.com describing available KML downloads.
	displays extra information, mostly about how to use the councils' maps (they're all different).

• Council map
• Councils A-Z
• Councils by county

Click on the map in your area of interest.To find another council, click anywhere on the map and move to the new area.

 

Barnsley Council To see paths on the map, tick the box next to Public Rights of Way. To find out a parish name and path number, click anywhere on the path.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Blackburn with Darwen Council * Note: Blackburn with Darwen Council's rights of way are included in the KML files for Lancashire County Council.	RoW		* See note, left	DMMO
Blackpool Council To see paths on the map page, click on the arrow next to Public Rights of Way at the left, then click again on another similar arrow, then click on the Public Rights of Way check box. To see a path number, click anywhere on the path.	RoW	Map	KML
Bolton Council On the map page, click on the My Maps tab to go straight to the map. To see paths on the map, click on Transport and streets, then tick the boxes next to Definitive Map of Public Footpaths (etc). To find out a parish name and path number, click anywhere on the path.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council To find out a parish name and path number, select the Identify tool and click anywhere on the path.	RoW	Map		DMMO
Bury Council To see paths on the map page, click on the Change Map button, select map type Footpaths, then select a map size and click on Apply changes. If you zoom right in, there are tiny path numbers, and sometimes a short code giving a clue about the parish.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Calderdale Council On the map page, to find out a parish name and path number, click anywhere on the path.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Cheshire East Council To see paths on the map, click on Public Rights of Way, then tick the boxes next to Footpaths (etc). To see parish names and path numbers, zoom right in.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Cheshire West & Chester Council To get Ordnance Survey maps, click on OS at top right. To see paths on the map, click on Map data and Leisure and Culture, then tick the boxes next to Footpaths etc. To see parish names and path numbers, zoom right in.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Derby City Council There is no interactive map but there are ten detailed maps showing path numbers, which you can download. Scroll down to section Where can I find a record of Derby's public rights of way? and you will see the list of available maps.				DMMO
Derbyshire County Council DCC also covers these local council areas: Amber Valley, Bolsover, Chesterfield, Derbyshire Dales, Erewash, High Peak, North East Derbyshire, South Derbyshire. To see paths on the map, go to Map Legend panel on the right and click the check box next to Public Rights of Way. Then zoom right in. To find out a parish name and path number, click anywhere on the path. Alternatively, zoom in further to get parish names and path numbers shown on the map. See also the Derbyshire County Council Rights of Way Charter.			KML	DMMO
Doncaster Council To find out a parish name and path number on the map, click anywhere on the path.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Halton Borough Council
Kirklees Council To navigate to a particular path, zoom and drag the map, or click on the Search tab. To see more information about a path, click on the purple line.	Row	Map	KML	DMMO
Knowsley Council
Lancashire County Council LCC also covers these local council areas: Burnley, Chorley, Fylde, Hyndburn, Lancaster, Pendle, Preston, Ribble Valley, Rossendale, South Ribble, West Lancashire, Wyre. To see paths on the map, first ensure that the scale is between 1:100000 and 1:5000. Then click on Countryside Environment And Waste, then tick the box next to Public Rights of Way. To see path numbers, zoom right in.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Leeds City Council Definitive rights of way are shown as black lines (for the meanings of other colours, click on the Legend button at top right). To find out a parish name and path number, click anywhere on the path.	RoW	Map		DMMO
Liverpool City Council	RoW			DMMO
Manchester City Council The map covers all of Greater Manchester. To see paths on the map, click on Green infrastructure and environment in the panel on the right, then tick the box next to Rights of way. Footpaths and bridleways are shown as orange dashed lines. To find out a path number, click anywhere on the path. Ringway paths are numbered separately.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Oldham Council The map covers all of Greater Manchester. To see paths on the map, click on Green infrastructure and environment in the panel on the right, then tick the box next to Rights of way. Footpaths and bridleways are shown as orange dashed lines. To find out a path number, click anywhere on the path. The path number includes a code indicating the parish, for example 280 SADD = Saddleworth FP280.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council The map covers all of Greater Manchester. To see paths on the map, click on Green infrastructure and environment in the panel on the right, then tick the box next to Rights of way. Footpaths and bridleways are shown as orange dashed lines. To find out a path number, click anywhere on the path. The path number includes a code indicating the parish, for example MilFp264 = Milnrow FP264.	RoW	Map	KML
Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council To see paths on the map, select Theme Public Footpaths, Bridleways & Byways. To find out a parish name and path number, click on the "red i in a blue circle" information symbol, then click anywhere on the path.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Salford City Council To see paths on the map, click on Map layers and Highway Status, then tick the boxes next to Definitive Bridleway (etc), and finally click on the pink "recycle" symbol to the right of "Layers". To find out a parish name and path number, click on the pink i information symbol, click anywhere on the path to bring up the Feature Information box, and finally hover the mouse over the "ECCLES DEFINITIVE FOOTPATH" (or similar) text. Re DMMOs, they have only one application currently and are revamping their prow webpages	RoW	Map	KML
Sefton Council To see paths on the map, click on Layers and Public Rights of Way, then tick the boxes next to Public Byways (etc). Paths are shown as red lines. To find out a parish name and path number, click on the red line and information is displayed on the Info tab on the left.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Sheffield City Council	RoW			DMMO
St Helens Council To find out a path number on the map, click on the blue i information symbol, then click anywhere on the path.	RoW	Map	KML
Staffordshire County Council SCC also covers these local council areas: Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Newcastle-under-Lyme, South Staffordshire, Stafford, Staffordshire Moorlands, Tamworth. To see paths and their numbers on the map, just zoom in. Click on the line of the path for more information.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Stockport Council To see paths on the map, click on + Transport, then tick the box next to Definitive Rights of Way. To see a path number, click anywhere on the path. The letters after the path number give a clue as to the parish.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
City of Stoke-on-Trent Re DMMOs: they are on Staffordshire County Council website Register of Applications. Type "Stoke on Trent" into the "Keyword" box.	RoW
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Trafford Council The map covers all of Greater Manchester. To see paths on the map, click on Green infrastructure and environment in the panel on the right, then tick the box next to Rights of way. Footpaths and bridleways are shown as orange dashed lines. To find out a parish name and path number, click anywhere on the path.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Wakefield Council To find out a parish name and path number on the map, click anywhere on the path.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Warrington Borough Council To see paths on the map, tick the box next to Public Rights of Way. To find out a parish name and path number, click anywhere on the path.	RoW	Map	KML
Wigan Council To find out a parish name and path number, click on the "white i in a blue circle" information symbol, then click anywhere on the path. Pop-ups must be enabled in your browser.	RoW	Map	KML	DMMO
Wirral Council	RoW		KML

Cheshire | Derbyshire | Greater Manchester | Lancashire | Merseyside | South Yorkshire | Staffordshire | West Yorkshire

Cheshire

Derbyshire

Greater Manchester

Lancashire

Merseyside

South Yorkshire

Staffordshire

West Yorkshire

Councils' web sites are constantly changing, so the information on this page can easily go out of date. If there's anything that you think should be changed or added, please contact the PNFS webmaster.

Related pages

Online maps Grid references OS mapping