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Public rights of way

Information for landowners

New public rights of way

If you own land you may know that new rights of way can be created if the public use routes over the land for a long time.  If you are willing to allow walkers or riders onto your land but you don’t want to create any new rights of way, you can send us a plan of your property and a statement complying with section 31(6) of the Highways Act 1980.  This will then be taken into account if anyone claims a path as a public right of way.  The statement must be renewed every ten years to ensure it continues to be effective.

Diversions and extinguishments

If you find that a right of way on your land is in an awkward position for you, for example because you cannot secure an important part of your property, it may be possible to divert the path, or more rarely to close it altogether.  You should make sure you do this legally however.  If you divert people onto a new path without a diversion order, you may finish up with two paths on your land instead of one.  See Diversions and extinguishments .

Stiles and gates

In law, stiles and gates are obstructions to the public right of way.  However they are obviously needed to prevent livestock such as sheep and cattle from escaping onto roads or into crops or domestic property and causing accidents or damage.  Therefore the Council can authorise you to erect new gates on your land in these circumstances.

If you already have gates or stiles on your land, it is your responsibility to keep them in good repair so that people can use them safely and easily.  However the Council will contribute part of the cost, as long as it is reasonable and we are satisfied with the work.  Also, the volunteer team may sometimes be available to carry out repairs which will reduce the cost still further. If you are interested in this, please contact the rights of way team .

Private access rights

If the access to your property is a public right of way, the Council will probably have some responsibility for its repair, but we cannot keep a track maintained to a suitable condition for vehicles if the public is only entitled to use it on foot or with horses.  (If Council vehicles use the track, for example to collect the rubbish, this is still private use to provide a service to your property.)

However we may be able to assist with the repair of a track by providing some materials or by contributing to the costs of work carried out by you (and possibly your neighbours), as long as we are satisfied with the work.  If you are interested in this, please contact the rights of way team .

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