The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 created access land in England and Wales. Access land includes mountains, moors, heaths and downs that are privately owned. It also includes common land registered with the local council and some land around the England Coast Path. Your right to access this land is called the ‘right to…
Exciting news today! The government have announced they intend to scrap the 2026 deadline! For more than 20 years this deadline has threatened our rights of way network throughout England and Wales. The 2026 deadline put tens of thousands of miles of paths at risk, the 1st January 2026 was set out in the Countryside…
Rights of way have been built up over hundreds of years, they are an important part of our historical landscape, and once they are lost, they are lost forever. It is important to put them back on the map and not lose these rights and access that people have fought hard to secure. By protecting…
Are you a landowner wanting to protect your land? Are you a rambler wanting to protect your rambling routes? Either way you should be aware of Section 31(6) of the Highways Act 1980. The coronavirus saw the public flood into the countryside and not everyone was aware of the countryside code or how to access…
Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) are legal documents that restrict or prohibit the use of the highway network, in line with The Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984. Local Authorities must exercise their traffic regulation powers to secure the safe passage of all traffic on Public Rights of Way, including walkers, horse riders, cyclists and motor and…
2020 has really shown the value of getting outdoors into nature. According to Natural England nearly half of the population (46%) have been spending more time outside than before Covid. Public Rights of Way are the routes that we use to access the countryside and give us legal rights to be there. These Public Rights…
Exactly 5 years from today, unrecorded rights of way that existed before 1949 will be extinguished. Time is ticking for us to get these unrecorded or under recorded routes correctly recorded on the definitive map. When we talk about these Lost Ways they aren’t all lost, many of these ways are in current use but…
I’ve been asked a lot recently how to get into Rights of Way work, what’s required to get started and how to stand out at interview. The sector is very diverse and working for different organisations/authorities can mean totally different things even though it may be the same job title. To put it simply, there…
How do you tell if a route is public, private or permissive? Are there signs? Are there barriers to stop you where you shouldn’t go? As we head into Lockdown 2.0 we should be making the most of getting outside and exploring our local routes again for our mental and physical well being. As we…
80% of the available time has already passed to record historic routes which are missing or under recorded on the definitive map. Routes that are not correctly recorded by the 1st January 2026 will be extinguished forever.
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