• Home
• Leisure
• Parks and Countryside
• Public rights of way

• Information for landowners
• Information for users
• Our responsibility
• Applying for diversions and alterations
• Rights of Way Improvement Plan
• Open Access Land
• Local Countryside Access Forum (LCAF)
• Definitive Map and Statement
• Register of Modification Order Applications
• Register of Deposit of Statements

If you have recorded rights of way on your land, the information on these pages should help you to:

• Know your rights, responsibilities and liabilities
• Make it easier for visitors to act responsibly
• Identify possible threats to visitors' safety

Your rights

As a landowner you have the right to expect that visitors on your land will treat it with respect and care and follow the Countryside Code. We will endeavor to make sure that rights of way are not used inappropriately.

Property

A right of way allows the public to pass over private land only along a fixed route, and you as the owner can also use this land for activities such as work or recreation. A typical example is when a footpath follows a private access road which is also used by a farmer and for farm vehicles, and by their children and friends (with permission) for horse-riding.

Trespass

If the public knowingly or unknowingly strays off a right of way onto land not belonging to them, against your wishes and without the legal right to do so, they are trespassing. As the land owner you are within your right to ask them to leave or you can have them removed.

Worrying sheep

Under certain circumstances farmers may shoot a dog that is apparently out of control and "worrying" livestock. For further information refer to section 9 of the Animals Act 1971.

Access for dogs

As a landowner you may provide for improved access for dogs.

Surface improvements to PRoW

With prior consent, you as a landowner may improve the surface of a right of way which runs over your land beyond the standard required for its status (for example surfacing a footpath that also serves as a driveway).

top

Protecting your land

Regular unchallenged use by the public of an informal path for a period of 20 years may result in it being deemed to be dedicated as a public right of way. If you as a landowner wish to prevent this, you will need to show that, at the relevant time, you did not intend that the path should become a public right of way. The erection and locking of gates, display of appropriately worded signs, or regular closing of the path can be used to show a lack of intent. So too, can the deposit of a statement and plan with us. One plan and statement can cover all of your land. Giving permission to the public to use a path can also protect it against becoming a public right of way.

As the landowner you must:

• Be aware of all rights of way on your land and have respect for them.
• Keep rights of way clear of obstructions. This may involve pruning back overgrown vegetation which may encroach onto the path- it is illegal to obstruct a right of way.
• Obtain consent from us before erecting new stiles or gates, or installing new bridges or culverts along rights of way, and make sure that all are maintained to a safe and usable standard and replaced when necessary.
• Make sure that rights of way are restored following drainage schemes.
• Restore the surface of any crossfield footpath or bridleway which has been ploughed to at least the minimum width so that it is reasonably convenient to use and apparent on the ground, within 14 days (or 24 hours of any subsequent disturbance).

As the landowner you must not:

• Allow any dairy bull over ten months of age free range of any field through which a footpath or bridleway passes.
• Allow barbed or electrified wire to cross through stiles, or run adjacent to rights of way, which could injure users keeping to the correct routes. Electrified fencing should be insulated appropriately at public crossing points.
• Erect misleading signs likely to deter use of rights of way.
• Plough a footpath or bridleway which constitutes the headland of a field, or runs alongside a hedgerow.
• Plough any byway open to all traffic or restricted byway.
• Remove or alter the direction of rights of way signs and waymarks.
• Use intimidation to prevent the public from using a right of way by telling them to leave, threatening them, keeping a fierce dog and allowing it free access onto land crossed by a right of way, or by any other form of harassment.

If you require any further information about the above, please contact us using the details to the right of this page.

--

Print