If we allow any part of a footpath to disappear there will always be an edge case, and the erosion of our rights of way. Well done to you both for highlighting this.
It's about access to the countryside for outdoor recreation not just getting from A to B, although in this case the railway should never have been allowed to block the path in the first place, which is still going on to this day all over the country.
With the public footpath still there with the right of way it could also be used as an argument to get the train company to recreate the access the next time they upgrade the track. OK, I know that's potentially decades off and not hugely likely but these things happen. I'm thinking about the way canal restorations have bridges built in new roads long before they reach them as an example - if there's a right of way there's at least sa little leverage to get things done.
And not just the erosion of your "rights of way" but of your "rights" in general. I'm not a person who likes to go all "slippery slope reasoning" but you have to work to keep the government working for you before they forget they do work for you.
@@NiallWardrop I have experience with Network Rail trying to block of a path - because increased trains would make a foot crossing unsafe. . They have rules to follow but are open to interpretation. Depends on how well the path is used, how far is a diversion etc. In our case they set up a camera in the middle of winter when not was bad weather. without getting I to details - we set up a local campaign. A footbridge was provided a few years later!
There was a local landowner who the second we had "The Event" in March 2020, decided to take advantage of the situation to block local walkways because they were fed up of people walking around their land. The Police refused to do anything about it, the local county council did nothing - the local ramblers kicked a fuss and started a publicity campaign to the point where the landowner caved in but this action should not have been allowed to happen in the first place. Around here, even the council close off walkways for "safety" and "to prevent anti-social behaviour". There are many a landowner who would like the concept of rights of way to disappear and for them to enjoy a free land grab at everyone else's expense.
That has already happened with the various Enclosures Acts from 1604 when the vast majority of 'Common Land' was grabbed by landowners then in political favour.
In Scotland at the same time lots of rural double yellow lines appeared and concrete blocks obstructing informal parking spaces which had been used for years to access paths and hills. They are mostly still there.
A landowner near me in Sheffield owned a stables which included a field that had a public right of way crossing diagonally through it. When the stables changed hands during lockdown, the new owner decided to put fencing up all around the field and force people to follow the perimeter of the field, despite there being 5 paths joining the field at different points. This entirely cut off the diagonal right of way, and forced people onto extremely restricted paths which become unbelievably muddy, all during a pandemic when people were trying to remain distant from one another and looking for places to go for a walk. The council and police have been informed, but always side with the landowner, and even arrest people for damaging the illegal fencing. The landowner has now put cameras in the trees to constantly monitor the public in case anyone attempts to damage their precious illegal fence. The erosion of basic rights in this country is mad. Thank you for bringing this issue to people's attention.
@@barrieshepherd7694 great idea, although I've never had any dealings with them so wouldn't know how. Yes, it's Clough Fields, Sheffield S10 5PY, and it's the field directly downslope of Mulehouse Road Open Space.
@@pwhitewick Wales has hundreds of paths and bridal ways that end like that and landowners deliberatly obstruct them, because they know no one will do anything about it !!
Landowners/farmers doing a deliberate land grab and hoping the council say nothing. How many of them also have influence of certain councillors to look the other way?
Underfunded, so fine the landowners after a period of time where they could take remedial action. Fines accrue daily until the obstruction is removed - just as they would recover unpaid council tax by sending in the bailiffs or going to court, and that would include the costs for doing so.
Being from South Africa myself, the idea of this right of way thing is absolutely fantastic. We do not have anything like this in Africa, you should view this as a fantastic piece of cultural heritage that should not be just a footnote in some history book.
Over the years, over here in the US, we've had almost the opposite problem. Around 15 to 20 years ago, part of a farm that came up to the southwest corner of our property, was sold off to a developer, who promptly started constructing a subdivision on it. However, the developers were unhappy, because the county commissioners told them they were restricted to XX number of houses, because there was only one access point on a small secondary road to the south - which would limit the ability of emergency services to respond - and also limited the ability to provide water sewer and other public utilities. The developer literally DEMANDED that my father, our neighbor that owned the cow pasture that ran along the northern edge of the subdivision, and my aunt, who's property is on the northern side of ours, give them right of way to put an access road, and allow the county to run water, sewer, and electric lines, across their property FREE AND GRATIS, or they would take them to court and sue to get said right of way. My father, our neighbor, and my aunt all gave them the same answer - "See you in court". They knew the law, and that the developers were trying to scare and intimidate them into giving them right of way for nothing, and they didn't budge. Never heard another word from said developers. And a few years later when the financial crash of 2009 hit, said developers went bust anyways.
"And a few years later when the financial crash of 2009 hit, said developers went bust anyways." Good. Good riddence to them. Serves them right for trying to access your property.
In Victoria, Australia, there are easements which appear on maps as dotted lines. Sometimes barbed wire fences can be built in odd places, some towns have phantom streets on farmland. Presumably such easements are built into the title.
@flippy66 You used the phrase “owning too much land and having zero responsibility”. As American that doesn’t even make sense to me - why wouldn’t you want to own as much land as possible and zero responsibility. What responsibility? It’s your land and you owe nobody anything except the bank that has your mortgage. If I pay for it, it’s mine and none of anybody’s business.
All it takes is a simple style. The important thing is to report the blockage again but this time you have more information to pass onto the council in that nothing has been done . If we don’t use them we lose them. It is just as important when using public foot paths to keep them clear where possible such as dead branches etc rather than struggling over them or walking past . I often have a pair of secateurs in my pocket or a small fold up branch saw. Obviously not every one will but it helps . If it’s a fallen tree again tell the council . They might plead hard up but it’s amazing how they find money for high profile silly things.
I walk a lot of paths just like Paul does to make content and the state of footpaths in the UK is awful and it’s getting worse. I went down some bridleways yesterday which were overgrown, that means in the summer they will be impassable
@@highpath4776 my estate is terrible, full of potholes and growth, it was built in the 50s so there’s a serious lack of crossing points at junctions if you’ve got a pram or wheelchair you have to drop off the road and go down to the junction and back up to the next driveway. The council won’t do a thing as they have no money
@@CourtAboveTheCut I was analysis local transport plans for such things at DfT 22 years ago so these things should have been looked at and attended to then. There is a problem I found with dropped kerbs if drainage is not done correctly and slipping on the slope in winter
@@highpath4776 we have an old crossing which was closed 3-4 years ago and replaced with a new crossing, they still have the bumps and everything on the footpath and I’ve had people walk out on me more times than I can remember. People still think it’s a crossing, blind people will still think it’s a crossing yet the council won’t remove it as it’ll mean resurfacing. I’ve reported it and so have dozens of people on the estate after near misses. They won’t do a thing until someone dies
Many years ago I worked with a local authority in checking PROWs. This involved looking at historical maps and aerial photographs and listening too local testimonies.. Many footpaths were blocked or diverted from the definitive route. Often the landowner claimed not to know of the existence of the path, however most accepted the evidence put forward, a few disputed the evidence resulting in a public inquiry, in the vast majority of such cases the inspector found in favour of the LA, that is, the footpath did in fact exist. The landowner was given a certain period of time to reinstate the path, after this time it was checked and further legal action taken. This was rare as the LA was known to pursue breaches. Today with LAs being cash strapped it might be different but as you say it is still against the law to obstruct a path, even a no-through-route. I enjoy your ramblings.
This is a real problem for us when we have groups of scouts planning Duke of Edinburgh routes, only to find that paths they expected to be able to use have either been blocked or deliberately 'hidden', sometimes even irate farm owners coming and confronting them for using what is a public right of way. We have learned a number of places to either tell them that the path is there but may not be easy to find or to avoid because we dont want them having the stress of a confrontation and/or having to find another route because its not viable the way they had planned.
That’s such a profound point about footpaths not just being to get from A to B. I love that argument that they’re important just because they’re nice to walk down! Even before the historic legacy that so many of them have.
Footpaths are a subject that very few people are aware of. "Outdoors" is the gap between the car park and the supermarket. Yet many of the paths are the scaffolding to the map. I once had an exchange with someone who had made a "private arrangement" with the next door farmer, to move a footpath 10ft to extend their garden. I suggested they check their deeds. (Two foot paths met in a cross point in their hamlet. This path ran in a straight line, for miles, between several historic monuments and one church. They might find that their property boundary was predated by, and defined by the footpath on one side. Move that, and they might invalidate their own deeds with Land Registery.) These paths may have formed with the first people to walk to the UK after the ice age. The settlements, towns, cities may be where they are because of them. "Hung foothpaths" are the very worst failure to appreciate their history and significance. We are where we are because we walked here.
Masses of path in the countryside were simply access ways to agricultural plots and did just end when the plots were arrived at. The paths and roads did not belong to the public but to the lord of the manor, or the turnpike trust.
Yes, I imagine the problem is probably worse there were people really "own" stuff. But attitude is a great deal to do with it. There (used to be) a huge difference in the UK between most of the country, which had "fewer" footpaths, and Cornwall, where everyone lived cheek by jowl, and peope wandering around was tolerated. But in the last few years Cornwall has been the prefered place for people to move to when they had the cash, and then sadly they brought Basingstoke with them, and the rather unfortunate baggage with them. In short, destroying the very wonderful atmosphere they originally dreamed of. There's nothing like "people" for doing that. Ho Hum @MckIdyll
Absolutely it is important to keep these 'spurs' of Public Footpaths open. There is far to much erosion of our Rights of Way already and I am sure everyone could post examples of closed footpaths near them. Keep it up Paul and Rebecca and you do take us to the loveliest of places. That hollow way was beautiful.
You are right to say _you never know when it will be needed._ We used to live in the Yorkshire Dales and there was, and still is, a footpath right next to our old property which goes through the farm yard of the adjacent farm. In the winter we could get snowed in for up to a couple of weeks at a time. When this happened, the only access to town was via this footpath. During the summer no one used the path as it was nicer to use the sunken lane that ran down to the hamlet.
WSCC (West Sussex) have been proactively signing old roads and paths not on the ROW maps as “Public Ways”. This is great and needs to be replicated by other Highway Authorities, and acknowledged on Ordnance Survey maps. Well done WSCC!
There used to be a local group near where I live in Leeds who were called footpath group. They aimed to walk every path/right of way at least once a year so that thy knew and others that it was in use. If that path goes to the railway it might be a good location for those wanting countryside photos without trespassing. Even dead end ones can be useful.
It's shocking to me that the railway was allowed to close off the right of way during what I can only assume was upgrading/maintaining the line, and didn't put it back afterwards. I guess they thought it wasn't being used (and maybe it wasn't at the time) but that has kind of screwed things up for future generations.
Surely you would be within your rights to cut the fence with side cutters as the fence is illegal. The landowner could hardly sue you for damaging his illegal fence.
I do voluntary work as a Parish Path Warden. A path path with a dead end still serves a purpose. The one I relate to are dog walkers. If the path is a dead end it is still useful.
I've reported numerous instances of landowners blocking public rights of way in my local area (Taunton, Somerset) and not one has been sorted. Some are now into their 4th year. So frustrating.
Some dead end footpaths were once through routes, but when the footpaths were recorded on the definitive map, the authority on one side of a boundary recorded it as a footpath, but the authority on the other side didn't. These should be reinstated as through routes IMO.
Yes and if a landslide blocked it off, it should be reopened. And if a railway blocked it off, it should be reopened. It's not as if we don't have tunnels and bridges.
Absolutely true, even in Shropshire under the same LA, it was the Parish Clerks who were asked to identify public paths. In practice they didn't know, so got a few and missed most.
Lovely to see the pair of you out walking. It is a wonderful sunken lane well worth walking even if it leads nowhere. If you can it would be great to see another update on this one. Have a great week!!
You are absolutely correct. I do not have quite the same mobility as you two and my wife much less than me so we are motorised users of BOAT's and UCR's. Fortunately, I belong to the Green Lane Association which fights these unjust blockages, will fight councils who illegally close roads and landowners who purposely block rights of way. I do have sympathy with certain farmers and land owners who have to put up with the scourge of fly tipping, hare coursing, machinery & livestock thefts but there are ways of working toghether and there has been some great initaitives which work really well. As for "dead ends" and "roads to nowhere", we have enjoyed a coffee or two with some spectacular views so not all dead end roads are "boring". Keep up the good work.
Funny that. Whilst I was typing, RUclips crashed. What I was saying is that I will not back down when confronted by a land owner acting unlawfully. Mind you I’m 6’3” 200 lbs and usually in a bad mood after having fought my way through and past multiple obstacles. So far I have come out best. As an ordinary person I am allowed to defend myself against any unlawful aggression so my message is “don’t try me!” We can’t let them win! For the sake of everyone.
We are having an issue with land developers. They are wanting to build 100 houses in a field that has a right of way through the middle (most walk around the field) to the nearby train station. Without this path, we have to add about a mile to our walk, along a busy and no footpath main road. The developers have told the council (and in their plans it shows) they will move the access to the path to another point in the field, BUT the neighbouring field you will then need to walk through to get to this new access is part of the railway infrastructure and securely closed off. Council is stating that unless objections OTHER than the right of way are raised they will allow the building work... so council have agreed to ignore the right of way issue.
Crazy as blocking pedestrian access to the train station will inevitably lead to people driving there instead, or ditching the train completely and making the whole journey by car. We seem to be going backwards in the UK when it comes to reducing private car usage.
@@highpath4776 councils don't have any control over planning law. This one could be in the wrong, and failing to reject the application when they actually should, but they can't just reject plans for being stupid if they're legal. Which is great but also awful, depending on the problem. On the one hand, an ignorant councillor can't just block development because they don't like it, on the other, they also can't block a genuinely stupid design or idea if it's legal.
Whilst two wrongs do not make a right and what I'm suggesting may be technically illegal, I'd simply carry a pair of wire cutters. Just don't be seen! A small hand saw could also be useful, you'd be helping the council. In Hampshire, any reported obstruction is usually cleared pretty quickly although I have found fottpaths across fields completely ploughed up, not much fun reinstating these all on your own in winter.
@@Klaus_Nobb In this case it wasn't even a barbed wire fence into a field with livestock in it, had that been the case I'd have more sympathy the landowner, but it was onto a lane on which the right of way continued. If it were a right of way going into a farmers field I'm not sure you can do anything but report the obstruction to the council and the police.
It is the pleasure of being landowner to upkeep pathways and public access across the land. If the council want a free solution, they can outsource the 'unblocking' to ramblers groups who can, when authorised by the council, invoice for their reasonable costs in clearance. This would gain the attention of landowners who would be 'even more reasonable' when they know that their game is up.
Yeah I like that idea. The council could just send a letter giving the land owner some time (a month?) to clear the ROW, and if they don't do so the ramblers would do it for them and the Council would send the land owner a bill
Under the law landowners are not responsible to maintain a ROW. All it means is that the public are able to use the,say, footpath. The footpath does not exist in the actual sense of a paved surface,it is merely denoted as a line on a map where it crosses a field for instance. Where I live there are some rights of way that are barely passable due to no fault of the landowners but because they were once the responsibility of the parish councils but now come under the auspices of the town council. They don't care about stiles and bridges that are dangerous to cross, brambles 6feet high etc. Please don't blame all farmers because your chosen path for a nice stroll is impassable. Deliberately blocking a path is one thing, blocking by neglect of the relevant authority is another. Our council is far too busy providing for undeserving parasites to do anything for ordinary people.
@@philhawley1219 erm WRONG. There very much ARE some maintenance tasks that fall to landowners. For example there is a legal requirement to reinstate a public right of way that goes across a ploughed field within a certain timeframe after ploughing takes place. Section 134 of the Highways Act 1980.
@@philhawley1219 We are specifically talking about deliberately blocking a path. If a landowner deliberately blocks a path, they should be charged for doing so.
@@OntarioTrafficMan I know that. My point is that many more paths are impassable due to events that are nothing to do with the landowners. But they still get blamed.
I'm from the Netherlands and I remember learning about the pathways in school when I was young. I think it's brilliant if you really want to be close to nature. It should absolutely be preserved! I think ripe cause is noble. The owner and the city council probably just think it's annoying.
We worked on a job where there was a right of way across this chaps drive, which he had no problem with. He had the dry stone wall re built, but the council forced him to fit a gate instead of a stile, which was there before. The reason was to make it easier for the infirm to cross into the field, irrespective of the fact that the rest of the path was furnished with stiles only. The gate looks awful, totally out of character, and will forever be a maintenance issue. Councils only bother about issues that they think will justify their pitiful existence.
Keep going and keep highlighting Paul and Rebecca. I try to do my bit up here as I do like an obscure path and those tend to get blocked fist. Mixed results on reporting via apps - Sheffield City Council no replies and no action, Notts County Council at least wrote back to me in one instance (though not on others) to apologise that they currently did not have a PROW Officer for the District - now there's a dream job if only it paid more!
The issue is almost all the UK councils are out of money with many are formally bankrupt and thus not enforcing anything because they do not get the money to spend or even the ability to spend because they only allowed to spend money on statutory services.
We are losing access to the countryside at an alarming rate. I went to my local council and got directions to 5 local BOATS, then tried to drive them. One was blocked by concrete blocks, like the ones used in Roadworks, two were blocked by chained and padlocked gates and one was blocked by steel I beams welded together and set in concrete. So I managed to drive one of them. I spoke to my council, who basically told me they wouldn't do anything about it, as their health and safety assessment indicated approaching land owners could expose council workers to the risk of abuse and harm.
I found one the other week in Northumberland while looking for a stone circle... The circle had vanished, the footpath is fenced off and the public footpath sign had been removed and was laying in a pile of old wood and detritus by the lane.
If it is a listed right of way, it IS a right of way. Doesn't matter if the landowner doesn't like it. That's not the point. You should have every right to use rights of way right up to their end. Even if they are overgrown.
I remember being told that, if a Public Footpath is not walked at least once a year, it loses it's status as a right of way? I'm sure there are Ramblers across Buckinghamshire that deliberately go out of their way to walk all the lesser used footpaths once a year, simply to keep them public access.
I've spoken to a few people who do the same thing around Hertfordshire, I don't know why but tennant farmers try to make it hard for walkers, they pull down signs and tell people who don't know the laws that they are trespassing even though they are not.
Not true, the golden rule with rights of way is 'Once a highway, always a highway'. Unless proper legal process to stop up the footpath has been gone through, the ROW will remain forever. Of course if a route becomes overgrown and that in turn discourages people from using it then it may make it slightly easier to go through the legal process of showing that the route is not needed.
I like the rhythm between the "smaller" and the longer videos, and I also feel like it's making the longer ones even better, while the short ones also feel like they don't need to be longer. Both very entertaining, please ramble on!
Something I've never thought about, but now you've brought it up, it is absolutely insane for paths to be blocked unless an active hazard/event is around. As a society, getting around by foot, and rejuvinating our mind in nature (on foot), is being increasingly discouraged. It's 2024, everyone should have everything they need to live/work, within a 30 minute walk (+ options for vulrenable/disabled of-course). Randomly cutting off routes is a slippery slope which only results in worse times.
I think it's time to serve Form 1 under Section 130A of the Highways Act 1980 to make the LHA act to have the obstruction removed. Also applied to all the branches blocking the path. It would be great if you could document this process, as so few know about it. I wonder if it's possible to reclaim the path the other side of the railway by proving 20 years usage in the past.
Really aggravates me, there's a walk near me that goes through what I guess used to be a farm but is now a stable. They erected a massive automatic gate and cameras, put no signs to indicate the footpath goes through the gate and put a buzzer to get access and a phone number in case god forbid you were walking on a Sunday or in the evening. Personally I feel it takes somebody with a conservative (small c) outlook to get uptight about rights of way on land that isn't their house, neurotic, "home is my castle", paranoid wankers, sorry for my English.
I've come across this on a Bridleway in West Sussex, most places just have a stile or other manual gate to the side of the main electric gate for vehicles but whatever the council won't do anything unless it becomes a real issue I'd guess.
This is illegal, and confirmed as such by the case of Garland and Salaman vs Secretary of State, which involved a similar situation. Even a psychological barrier can legally constitute an obstruction of a right of way.
Here, across the pond, there aren't 'public pathways' unless they are in a state-owned area. There is a nice walk along the Appalachians from Maine to Georgia. It might take a little bit of time to check it out.
I had a case where a right of way had been allowed to "grow over" Terrible fight to get through (but I did) other side was barbed wire fenced areas to make you walk away from the path & style gates roped up! Trouble here was the area mentioned is on the county boarder between Staffordshire & Shropshire! Mailed both councils & going back soon! To see what probably has not been done!
I agree. I have noticed around here in norfolk that footpaths seem to be eaten by private landowners just putting up signs saying no footfall or worse putting up a fence...
Great job! 👏👏 A legal pathway is a legal pathway! It’s been there since forever and it’s there on the official OS maps! It’s not ok to close it off for pedestrian traffic.
I do a lot of walking in the south east of England and have experienced this. It’s very frustrating. Last year, I walked the South Downs Way. Part of the trail went across a farmers field. He/she had deliberately ploughed right across the trail making it churned up and near impossible to even walk on. Clearly, there isn’t a deterrent for landowners blocking, obstructing or farming over ancient rights of way. However, the more of us that complain, the more likely something may change. Good video and thank you.
Whilst the route may well stop at the railway line, if the landowner feels there is some justification to have the right of way removed they must apply to the Council. They can’t just block it and the Council (Wiltshire in this case) must act. Apart from in one case I’ve never known Wiltshire Council act on any report of a blocked right of way. Curiously the landowner here seems quite happy to have motorbikes hurtling through that wood but not people going for a quiet walk.
If you don't have the right to block off a right of way, then you don't have the right to build on it, meaning that regardless of ownership, I'm no more wrong for coming through with cutters and taking it down permanently. The more you put it back the more I make a point of coming back to take it down, and there's no expenditure for me to keep coming back.
As a farm owner in Surrey we have a number of footpaths across our land, which is ok (and for context I am a keen country walker) - we are required to maintain them (at our cost), which we do, and access to them must be unfettered, again ok. We go out of our way to put in signposts, info boards, gates and stiles (at out cost) to make it easier., again all ok. The issue is when self entitled members of the public misuse these rights and wander all around our farm like they have the right to, (and you really would not believe the arrogance/anger/hostility when we politely ask them to stick to the public rights of way and not wander about our private property) and leave gates open so livestock can escape and be killed on the roads nearby, which has happened more times than our insurers will now cover, and more times than I care to recount. Its a two sided coin.
Nice to see Rebecca with you this week Paul! If there’s a Public footpath and right of way then people should be able to walk it without obstructions being put in our way!
i came across a similar problem, on an 8 mile hike, half mile from end someone had claimed the right of way as thier garden. i was 6months pregnant, there was no way or daylight to walk back, so we removed the wooden pannel, so we could catch a bus home
Find out who the land owner is and publicize what they have done. Also check the membership of the council, could be that 1) Assume Something has gone wrong with the app and the info is not reaching the members (either because of a tech problem or because whoever is their IT person has been paid off by the land owner to make reports disappear) and instead contact the council members directly . 2) If there is a local newspaper drop a note to them about it (Letter to the editor or some such). 3) See if the Land owner is PART of the Council (and could be blocking things from that position). Corruption happens everywhere anyone has power in any governance system.
One of the main issues is that a lot of people who do want to get outside think the only way is to head to a national park or some kind of established attraction. Local footpaths are often neglected and just get lost. I'm sure we've all followed paths marked on OS maps that just disappear and are impossible to follow. It also depends on how proactive councils are. Some counties are excellent at maintaining footpaths, others not so much.😊
Great video.... as a runner I often run along public footpaths (often the problem is dogs off leads) but near me the HS2 cuts through a lot of the pathways and some have been rebuild so lorry can drive through it and we can now follow the path... mind you I too have complained about the public footpath near my house so I don't have to walk along the 60mph road (with out pavement) but that hasn't been dealt with in 5 yrs.... come on Council keep our heritage open - I might add the farmers have been stars and kept the public foot paths open and I often run up to the farmers on tractors and chat... its the council here that suck
Totally agree, keep those paths open. If a path is blocked you are allowed a reasonable diversion. Cutting the barbed wire might be deemed criminal damage, but going around, under or over is OK.
It's a good idea to document as many as these as possible, I am currently on a mission to video as many routes as I can. I reported a blocked Bridleway to the council over a year ago and recently revisited it to check and do a video, guess what, it was still blocked, I reported it again and was told "This matter has been reported to us previously and a letter has been sent to the landowner", I suspect the farmer just chucked the letter in the bin! I have also found a section of footpath (route of a Roman road) which is on old ordnance survey maps and since disappeared and a section of footpath still shown on the Norfolk Highways Public Rights of Way website that goes straight through the track at Snetterton Race Circuit!
Some very clear defined differences between Historic rights of way, footpaths, bridleways, and permissible paths as there is with those that use them and how they are used. There are a growing number of bikers, dog walkers and ramblers who think they are entitled to do as they wish, go anywhere they wish and generally have little idea of why there are rules in the countryside which unfortunately results in anything from broken styles & fences, open gates, trees festooned in dog muck bags, theft or damage and fly tipping, as such it is an understandable frustration that leads to the landowners actions, if your considerate and polite so are we.
Same problem exits in any other context. It doesnt give anyone the right to block, for example a paved road into an area, because that area is having issues. Landowners are not "exempt" from people issues. They must deal with it lawfully, like the rest of us. Or, if taking the law into their own hands, they give up all moral and legal highground. ie, dont whine when 200m of your fence is clipped...
@@MotoMerc If it’s a permissible path we can as we wish, you cut it we will do more than whine, start looking for a new route. The law is with us not the walker.
Live and work not far from your neck of the woods. Not encouraging anyone to be the same, but for about the last 40 years I've always gone where I want, when I want, being considerate and within reason. Exploring, hiking, mountain biking, fishing etc. My job is the same, due legal easements and wayleaves. It entitles me to access public and private land. I have only once been "threatened" by a landowner(at work). Every other time a landowner has collared me, a quick apology, friendly chat and make sure you take the quickest route off their land and its been all good. I know you can't advocate this approach on your channel though. Keep up the good work👍.
We actually jave a footpath near us which is the oposite, it actually goes much further than it does on the offical map (Its not a huge path but one of our fav local dog walks, goes about 3 or 4 times the length shown and is clearly maintained)
I wonder if the landowners have had too many problems with people trashing their property? They probably don't care about people out for a walk, but don't want their place vandalized or trash left everywhere...
The issue is that people fail to respect the land, land owners end up cleaning uo there crap people just leave, you want land owners to respect right of way, respect their land
Check if the landowner has changed. If they've purchased land knowing that it includes public right of ways, and has deliberately blocked them; take the information to the local council so its no longer a case of asking the owner to remove the obstacle, it a case for *prosecution.*
The landowner is legally obliged to keep any public footpath clear on their land. Problems may occur when land ownership changes or building takes place, but the council should enforce any legal obligations, there's no excuse.
Thanks for the update, albeit a depressingly predictable outcome! Sadly, it looks like we have to take equipment out with us on walks these days, in order to overcome such obstructions. I wonder what this landowner would think if they found their barbed wire fence dismantled. Angry? Ashamed?
I moved a 10 foot piece of wooden fence by cutting 2 posts at ground level and moving the fence off my land into the right place and putting 2 new posts to replace the second hand posts I had cut. I got taken to court for cutting his old fence posts for criminal damage. Their could be cameras in the area. Looks as though the fence is there for stock being moved. Ask the land owner if you can put a gate there. The Council have a department for public paths. Did you write a letter? They have to reply by law.
Nice to see you both out & about suitably attired for the weather too. With you 100% the council really should be sending out a couple of people to cut back the overhanging branches so as to make the access easier & as for the barbed wire fence & would, if I were you take an axe next time & hack down that fence. I despair at your English farmers & land owners not allowing roaming rights as we have here in Scotland. It's not as if millions of people are going to destroy the land & if the routes are maintained then there should be no problems. Best of luck trying to get a result.
Always carry a good set of wire cutters and gloves when hiking. It is amazing where you'll find barbwire blocking a path or worse find discarded barbwire that someone has got stuck in. This is true many places in the UK, EU and America.
Walkers sometimes ask about a footpath running over my friends property. It's a dead end,being built on, with council houses over one hundred years ago,yet,it's still showing as a footpath, on modern maps.
This resonates so much! I have walked into so many dead ends ... barbed wire, large trees deliberately felled across forest paths. Not in the UK, mind you, but Germany. Land owners do whatever they want, and as a hiker, you're forced to weave or jump or climb through fencing, thick branches and stuff, or to turn around after having walked down a path for a significant time. Shame :(
Most County Councils, are wobbling financially, some 6 are facing bankrupt status soon. They will not sanction legal action against wealthy landowners who can just obsfucate until the councils legal budget is exhausted and by default they win. See East Sussex County Council V Hoogstraaten, Footpaths at Hamilton Palace, after spending £0.5M on legal costs in less than 1 year, the Council withdrew, saying they could not justify more expenditure.
In my village, a few years back, the parish council found out that a homeowner had built part of his garden wall on a right of way footpath, basically nabbing 3 feet extra along the length of his garden. They took himto court and he had to demolish it and reinstate the footpath.
Someone did that near me, but their neighbours decided to do the same and so many people ended up doing it that its not feasible to take them all to court.
You should look into secton 130a of the Highways Act 1980. It allows you to serve notice on the council to force them into complying with their duty to take action to remove obstructions. They have 30 days to sort it before you can take them to court. Might make an interesting video of you using this process.
I wish I could retire right now, move to England, and spend time with you exploring paths, canals, and hike all over the lands of my ancestors. I even have an Archaeology degree from a major university. Unfortunately I also have a mortgage and kids in college to support. Like they say, "Why don't you retire?" "Pills and bills. Pills and bills..." That's why! Keep up the great videos.
I have run into 6ft walls with broken glass on top of them. I have run into 8ft high fences with barbed wire at highest point. I have also run into house built across a RoW. I have also run into impenetrable Plantation Forestry on them. Oh and that is Scotland as well.
A footpath is a footpath and it’s our right to walk them. We need people like you to point out where the land owner is unlawfully land grabbing. I also get fed up with the state of some of these paths. Some are barely passable. - good vid as always 😊
I do agree with you but unfortunately we know live in a world we're making money legally or eligally is more in portent then nature. Sum times unscrupulous bunessmen are trying to get land for housesing development can get massive tax subsadys of government.
One of the reasons landowners like to block off these public rights of way, is that if they aren't maintained as a public right of way, they lose that status. That field up to the railway is worth significantly more to a developer if they don't have to care about a public right of way.
I'd cut it. I live in Lincolnshire and our footpaths and general ability to get our and have a walk is almost impossible due to everywhere being private, mostly farm land. The landowners love to swoop on you at the slightest detour.
At the bottom of Ordnance Survey maps it states that all footpaths are ‘with permission of the landowner’. I would bet that a farmer needed that part of THEIR land fenced off for work reasons. It is then the responsibility of the council to erect a stile.
If it's blocket off to stop farm animals from escaping then a gate should be placed there as in all pathways leading onto farmland and if farmers say they are fed up with people of thier land then they should say to keep off fields or keep to the left or right or put a fence to make a path for people to walk down or is that to easy to do.
Good to see Rebecca back, even if only for a short one. I envy the UK's rights of way laws. We don't have those in North America and most private land is off limits to walkers.
Near me the landowner used asbestos to fill in massive potholes as well as putting up big barriers on paths, and actively took down signs.. half of the abestos was moved after I reported it, nothing was done about the rest. They also enjoy hanging dead animals off of their fences. Mainly moles. I guess when the moles are out jogging and with their keen eyesight spot some cruified moles, they will be scared off?
The trouble is these days councils often don't have the staff to enforce, not matter how often things are reported, and that goes across a lot of things..
@@andyskelton7223 more than managers being overpaid I'd argue that it demonstrates quite how savagely local council budgets have been cut by central government over the past 14 years
Thanks for highlighting this issue again, one which is close to my heart. I think it would be really interesting to contact the landowner and give them an opportunity to put their side of the story across (although I suspect they would decline the offer).
@@pwhitewick Probably whoever owns the nearest farm? There's also the Land Registry site, where you can search by postcode or I believe even by pretty much putting a pin in the map. Obviously this suggestion is to be taken with a large pinch of salt! I'm guessing even if you could track down the owner they would possibly just not want to talk about it, or they might be very defensive, and it overall seems unlikely it would be a fun conversation to have!
If we allow any part of a footpath to disappear there will always be an edge case, and the erosion of our rights of way.
Well done to you both for highlighting this.
It's about access to the countryside for outdoor recreation not just getting from A to B, although in this case the railway should never have been allowed to block the path in the first place, which is still going on to this day all over the country.
With the public footpath still there with the right of way it could also be used as an argument to get the train company to recreate the access the next time they upgrade the track. OK, I know that's potentially decades off and not hugely likely but these things happen. I'm thinking about the way canal restorations have bridges built in new roads long before they reach them as an example - if there's a right of way there's at least sa little leverage to get things done.
And not just the erosion of your "rights of way" but of your "rights" in general. I'm not a person who likes to go all "slippery slope reasoning" but you have to work to keep the government working for you before they forget they do work for you.
@@NiallWardrop I have experience with Network Rail trying to block of a path - because increased trains would make a foot crossing unsafe. . They have rules to follow but are open to interpretation. Depends on how well the path is used, how far is a diversion etc. In our case they set up a camera in the middle of winter when not was bad weather. without getting I to details - we set up a local campaign. A footbridge was provided a few years later!
There was a local landowner who the second we had "The Event" in March 2020, decided to take advantage of the situation to block local walkways because they were fed up of people walking around their land. The Police refused to do anything about it, the local county council did nothing - the local ramblers kicked a fuss and started a publicity campaign to the point where the landowner caved in but this action should not have been allowed to happen in the first place. Around here, even the council close off walkways for "safety" and "to prevent anti-social behaviour". There are many a landowner who would like the concept of rights of way to disappear and for them to enjoy a free land grab at everyone else's expense.
That has already happened with the various Enclosures Acts from 1604 when the vast majority of 'Common Land' was grabbed by landowners then in political favour.
In Scotland at the same time lots of rural double yellow lines appeared and concrete blocks obstructing informal parking spaces which had been used for years to access paths and hills. They are mostly still there.
Your comments "around their land" explains everything. Your supposed to STAY on the footpath, not go exploring.
@@caminojohn3240 So, one person does something wrong, then the second wrong becomes a right? I don't think so.
@@caminojohn3240 His reference to "block local walkways" makes it clear that getting around the land was by using legal footpaths.
The onus should be on the land owner to make sure their fencing is legal. The council are clearly neglecting their duty.
A landowner near me in Sheffield owned a stables which included a field that had a public right of way crossing diagonally through it. When the stables changed hands during lockdown, the new owner decided to put fencing up all around the field and force people to follow the perimeter of the field, despite there being 5 paths joining the field at different points. This entirely cut off the diagonal right of way, and forced people onto extremely restricted paths which become unbelievably muddy, all during a pandemic when people were trying to remain distant from one another and looking for places to go for a walk. The council and police have been informed, but always side with the landowner, and even arrest people for damaging the illegal fencing. The landowner has now put cameras in the trees to constantly monitor the public in case anyone attempts to damage their precious illegal fence. The erosion of basic rights in this country is mad. Thank you for bringing this issue to people's attention.
That situation should be reported to the Ramblers Association. Can you advise what the location is?
The Parish council should be raising this with the local district councillors. Together they should enforce the many laws we have regarding PROW.
@@barrieshepherd7694 great idea, although I've never had any dealings with them so wouldn't know how. Yes, it's Clough Fields, Sheffield S10 5PY, and it's the field directly downslope of Mulehouse Road Open Space.
Vigilantes needed
@@MassiveChetBakerFan they're too busy attacking ULEZ cameras because they love lung disease, hate their neighbours and are completely selfish.
Well done to you guys for highlighting the problems with some of our ancient walkways.
It's hugely frustrating.
@@pwhitewick Wales has hundreds of paths and bridal ways that end like that and landowners deliberatly obstruct them, because they know no one will do anything about it !!
It's landowners knowing the council are too flat out and underfunded to chase up these reports. Keep up the good work 👍
Cut the wire.
It's been put up illegally.
Landowners/farmers doing a deliberate land grab and hoping the council say nothing. How many of them also have influence of certain councillors to look the other way?
Underfunded ? So we need to collect more taxes ?
Underfunded, so fine the landowners after a period of time where they could take remedial action. Fines accrue daily until the obstruction is removed - just as they would recover unpaid council tax by sending in the bailiffs or going to court, and that would include the costs for doing so.
councils and underfunded in the same sentence you are having a laugh
Being from South Africa myself, the idea of this right of way thing is absolutely fantastic. We do not have anything like this in Africa, you should view this as a fantastic piece of cultural heritage that should not be just a footnote in some history book.
We do
Over the years, over here in the US, we've had almost the opposite problem.
Around 15 to 20 years ago, part of a farm that came up to the southwest corner of our property, was sold off to a developer, who promptly started constructing a subdivision on it. However, the developers were unhappy, because the county commissioners told them they were restricted to XX number of houses, because there was only one access point on a small secondary road to the south - which would limit the ability of emergency services to respond - and also limited the ability to provide water sewer and other public utilities.
The developer literally DEMANDED that my father, our neighbor that owned the cow pasture that ran along the northern edge of the subdivision, and my aunt, who's property is on the northern side of ours, give them right of way to put an access road, and allow the county to run water, sewer, and electric lines, across their property FREE AND GRATIS, or they would take them to court and sue to get said right of way.
My father, our neighbor, and my aunt all gave them the same answer - "See you in court". They knew the law, and that the developers were trying to scare and intimidate them into giving them right of way for nothing, and they didn't budge.
Never heard another word from said developers. And a few years later when the financial crash of 2009 hit, said developers went bust anyways.
"And a few years later when the financial crash of 2009 hit, said developers went bust anyways." Good. Good riddence to them. Serves them right for trying to access your property.
In Victoria, Australia, there are easements which appear on maps as dotted lines. Sometimes barbed wire fences can be built in odd places, some towns have phantom streets on farmland. Presumably such easements are built into the title.
@flippy66
You used the phrase “owning too much land and having zero responsibility”. As American that doesn’t even make sense to me - why wouldn’t you want to own as much land as possible and zero responsibility. What responsibility? It’s your land and you owe nobody anything except the bank that has your mortgage. If I pay for it, it’s mine and none of anybody’s business.
All it takes is a simple style. The important thing is to report the blockage again but this time you have more information to pass onto the council in that nothing has been done . If we don’t use them we lose them. It is just as important when using public foot paths to keep them clear where possible such as dead branches etc rather than struggling over them or walking past . I often have a pair of secateurs in my pocket or a small fold up branch saw. Obviously not every one will but it helps . If it’s a fallen tree again tell the council . They might plead hard up but it’s amazing how they find money for high profile silly things.
I walk a lot of paths just like Paul does to make content and the state of footpaths in the UK is awful and it’s getting worse. I went down some bridleways yesterday which were overgrown, that means in the summer they will be impassable
@@CourtAboveTheCut a lot of urban pathways that are tarmacked are overgrown.
@@highpath4776 my estate is terrible, full of potholes and growth, it was built in the 50s so there’s a serious lack of crossing points at junctions if you’ve got a pram or wheelchair you have to drop off the road and go down to the junction and back up to the next driveway. The council won’t do a thing as they have no money
@@CourtAboveTheCut I was analysis local transport plans for such things at DfT 22 years ago so these things should have been looked at and attended to then. There is a problem I found with dropped kerbs if drainage is not done correctly and slipping on the slope in winter
@@highpath4776 we have an old crossing which was closed 3-4 years ago and replaced with a new crossing, they still have the bumps and everything on the footpath and I’ve had people walk out on me more times than I can remember. People still think it’s a crossing, blind people will still think it’s a crossing yet the council won’t remove it as it’ll mean resurfacing. I’ve reported it and so have dozens of people on the estate after near misses. They won’t do a thing until someone dies
Many years ago I worked with a local authority in checking PROWs. This involved looking at historical maps and aerial photographs and listening too local testimonies.. Many footpaths were blocked or diverted from the definitive route. Often the landowner claimed not to know of the existence of the path, however most accepted the evidence put forward, a few disputed the evidence resulting in a public inquiry, in the vast majority of such cases the inspector found in favour of the LA, that is, the footpath did in fact exist. The landowner was given a certain period of time to reinstate the path, after this time it was checked and further legal action taken. This was rare as the LA was known to pursue breaches. Today with LAs being cash strapped it might be different but as you say it is still against the law to obstruct a path, even a no-through-route.
I enjoy your ramblings.
This is a real problem for us when we have groups of scouts planning Duke of Edinburgh routes, only to find that paths they expected to be able to use have either been blocked or deliberately 'hidden', sometimes even irate farm owners coming and confronting them for using what is a public right of way. We have learned a number of places to either tell them that the path is there but may not be easy to find or to avoid because we dont want them having the stress of a confrontation and/or having to find another route because its not viable the way they had planned.
Ok, so get the scouts to offer a Rights of Way badge for defending their rights and sticking up to criminal landowners.
That’s such a profound point about footpaths not just being to get from A to B. I love that argument that they’re important just because they’re nice to walk down! Even before the historic legacy that so many of them have.
Footpaths are a subject that very few people are aware of. "Outdoors" is the gap between the car park and the supermarket. Yet many of the paths are the scaffolding to the map. I once had an exchange with someone who had made a "private arrangement" with the next door farmer, to move a footpath 10ft to extend their garden. I suggested they check their deeds. (Two foot paths met in a cross point in their hamlet. This path ran in a straight line, for miles, between several historic monuments and one church. They might find that their property boundary was predated by, and defined by the footpath on one side. Move that, and they might invalidate their own deeds with Land Registery.) These paths may have formed with the first people to walk to the UK after the ice age. The settlements, towns, cities may be where they are because of them. "Hung foothpaths" are the very worst failure to appreciate their history and significance. We are where we are because we walked here.
Masses of path in the countryside were simply access ways to agricultural plots and did just end when the plots were arrived at. The paths and roads did not belong to the public but to the lord of the manor, or the turnpike trust.
Yes, I imagine the problem is probably worse there were people really "own" stuff. But attitude is a great deal to do with it. There (used to be) a huge difference in the UK between most of the country, which had "fewer" footpaths, and Cornwall, where everyone lived cheek by jowl, and peope wandering around was tolerated. But in the last few years Cornwall has been the prefered place for people to move to when they had the cash, and then sadly they brought Basingstoke with them, and the rather unfortunate baggage with them. In short, destroying the very wonderful atmosphere they originally dreamed of. There's nothing like "people" for doing that. Ho Hum @MckIdyll
Absolutely it is important to keep these 'spurs' of Public Footpaths open. There is far to much erosion of our Rights of Way already and I am sure everyone could post examples of closed footpaths near them. Keep it up Paul and Rebecca and you do take us to the loveliest of places. That hollow way was beautiful.
You are right to say _you never know when it will be needed._ We used to live in the Yorkshire Dales and there was, and still is, a footpath right next to our old property which goes through the farm yard of the adjacent farm. In the winter we could get snowed in for up to a couple of weeks at a time. When this happened, the only access to town was via this footpath. During the summer no one used the path as it was nicer to use the sunken lane that ran down to the hamlet.
WSCC (West Sussex) have been proactively signing old roads and paths not on the ROW maps as “Public Ways”. This is great and needs to be replicated by other Highway Authorities, and acknowledged on Ordnance Survey maps. Well done WSCC!
There used to be a local group near where I live in Leeds who were called footpath group. They aimed to walk every path/right of way at least once a year so that thy knew and others that it was in use.
If that path goes to the railway it might be a good location for those wanting countryside photos without trespassing. Even dead end ones can be useful.
It's shocking to me that the railway was allowed to close off the right of way during what I can only assume was upgrading/maintaining the line, and didn't put it back afterwards. I guess they thought it wasn't being used (and maybe it wasn't at the time) but that has kind of screwed things up for future generations.
A Right of Way is a Right of Way protected by law
Alas... not enforced here.
@@pwhitewickand isn't the UK "government" looking to remove miles of right of ways unless we can "prove" they are in use?
Surely you would be within your rights to cut the fence with side cutters as the fence is illegal. The landowner could hardly sue you for damaging his illegal fence.
@@kieranbeecroft8414 it's on the definitive map already. Stop fear mongering about that when it is nothing to do with the problem here.
If you have the wherewithal then remove such obstruction there and then. Some walkers come prepared!
I do voluntary work as a Parish Path Warden. A path path with a dead end still serves a purpose. The one I relate to are dog walkers. If the path is a dead end it is still useful.
It'd be hard to use cul-de-sacs and you know, cities in general, if we closed off all the paths and roads that are a dead end.
I've reported numerous instances of landowners blocking public rights of way in my local area (Taunton, Somerset) and not one has been sorted. Some are now into their 4th year. So frustrating.
Pleased to see Rebecca bringing a bit of glamour back to the videos... not that you're not glamorous Paul, just not in the same league!
# Saucer of milk, table for two,Meow.🐱
These Old Ways are important historical routes probably thousands of years old in origin. Well done.👍👍
Thanks Simon. Absolutely the point
Some dead end footpaths were once through routes, but when the footpaths were recorded on the definitive map, the authority on one side of a boundary recorded it as a footpath, but the authority on the other side didn't. These should be reinstated as through routes IMO.
Yes and if a landslide blocked it off, it should be reopened. And if a railway blocked it off, it should be reopened. It's not as if we don't have tunnels and bridges.
Absolutely true, even in Shropshire under the same LA, it was the Parish Clerks who were asked to identify public paths. In practice they didn't know, so got a few and missed most.
Lovely to see the pair of you out walking.
It is a wonderful sunken lane well worth walking even if it leads nowhere.
If you can it would be great to see another update on this one.
Have a great week!!
Thanks David. Stay tuned for Feb 2025
You are absolutely correct. I do not have quite the same mobility as you two and my wife much less than me so we are motorised users of BOAT's and UCR's. Fortunately, I belong to the Green Lane Association which fights these unjust blockages, will fight councils who illegally close roads and landowners who purposely block rights of way. I do have sympathy with certain farmers and land owners who have to put up with the scourge of fly tipping, hare coursing, machinery & livestock thefts but there are ways of working toghether and there has been some great initaitives which work really well. As for "dead ends" and "roads to nowhere", we have enjoyed a coffee or two with some spectacular views so not all dead end roads are "boring". Keep up the good work.
It's like defending a trademark. If you allow little transgressions to slip, then they can be used as a precedent to allow bigger transgressions.
Funny that. Whilst I was typing, RUclips crashed. What I was saying is that I will not back down when confronted by a land owner acting unlawfully. Mind you I’m 6’3” 200 lbs and usually in a bad mood after having fought my way through and past multiple obstacles. So far I have come out best. As an ordinary person I am allowed to defend myself against any unlawful aggression so my message is “don’t try me!”
We can’t let them win! For the sake of everyone.
We are having an issue with land developers. They are wanting to build 100 houses in a field that has a right of way through the middle (most walk around the field) to the nearby train station. Without this path, we have to add about a mile to our walk, along a busy and no footpath main road. The developers have told the council (and in their plans it shows) they will move the access to the path to another point in the field, BUT the neighbouring field you will then need to walk through to get to this new access is part of the railway infrastructure and securely closed off.
Council is stating that unless objections OTHER than the right of way are raised they will allow the building work... so council have agreed to ignore the right of way issue.
can council override law in such a way ?
@highpath4776 I don't believe so, but once planning is granted, unless we go to court for an injunction who is going to actually stop them?
Crazy as blocking pedestrian access to the train station will inevitably lead to people driving there instead, or ditching the train completely and making the whole journey by car. We seem to be going backwards in the UK when it comes to reducing private car usage.
@@highpath4776 councils don't have any control over planning law. This one could be in the wrong, and failing to reject the application when they actually should, but they can't just reject plans for being stupid if they're legal. Which is great but also awful, depending on the problem. On the one hand, an ignorant councillor can't just block development because they don't like it, on the other, they also can't block a genuinely stupid design or idea if it's legal.
Whilst two wrongs do not make a right and what I'm suggesting may be technically illegal, I'd simply carry a pair of wire cutters. Just don't be seen! A small hand saw could also be useful, you'd be helping the council. In Hampshire, any reported obstruction is usually cleared pretty quickly although I have found fottpaths across fields completely ploughed up, not much fun reinstating these all on your own in winter.
I very often carry with me a small wood saw and wire cutters for this very problem. We shouldn't just let these footpaths disappear.
@@Klaus_Nobb In this case it wasn't even a barbed wire fence into a field with livestock in it, had that been the case I'd have more sympathy the landowner, but it was onto a lane on which the right of way continued. If it were a right of way going into a farmers field I'm not sure you can do anything but report the obstruction to the council and the police.
I always do
It is the pleasure of being landowner to upkeep pathways and public access across the land. If the council want a free solution, they can outsource the 'unblocking' to ramblers groups who can, when authorised by the council, invoice for their reasonable costs in clearance. This would gain the attention of landowners who would be 'even more reasonable' when they know that their game is up.
Yeah I like that idea. The council could just send a letter giving the land owner some time (a month?) to clear the ROW, and if they don't do so the ramblers would do it for them and the Council would send the land owner a bill
Under the law landowners are not responsible to maintain a ROW. All it means is that the public are able to use the,say, footpath. The footpath does not exist in the actual sense of a paved surface,it is merely denoted as a line on a map where it crosses a field for instance. Where I live there are some rights of way that are barely passable due to no fault of the landowners but because they were once the responsibility of the parish councils but now come under the auspices of the town council. They don't care about stiles and bridges that are dangerous to cross, brambles 6feet high etc. Please don't blame all farmers because your chosen path for a nice stroll is impassable. Deliberately blocking a path is one thing, blocking by neglect of the relevant authority is another. Our council is far too busy providing for undeserving parasites to do anything for ordinary people.
@@philhawley1219 erm WRONG.
There very much ARE some maintenance tasks that fall to landowners. For example there is a legal requirement to reinstate a public right of way that goes across a ploughed field within a certain timeframe after ploughing takes place. Section 134 of the Highways Act 1980.
@@philhawley1219 We are specifically talking about deliberately blocking a path. If a landowner deliberately blocks a path, they should be charged for doing so.
@@OntarioTrafficMan I know that. My point is that many more paths are impassable due to events that are nothing to do with the landowners. But they still get blamed.
a right of way is a right of way , no matter where it goes , the councils should protect them
I'm from the Netherlands and I remember learning about the pathways in school when I was young. I think it's brilliant if you really want to be close to nature. It should absolutely be preserved!
I think ripe cause is noble. The owner and the city council probably just think it's annoying.
We worked on a job where there was a right of way across this chaps drive, which he had no problem with.
He had the dry stone wall re built, but the council forced him to fit a gate instead of a stile, which was there before. The reason was to make it easier for the infirm to cross into the field, irrespective of the fact that the rest of the path was furnished with stiles only.
The gate looks awful, totally out of character, and will forever be a maintenance issue.
Councils only bother about issues that they think will justify their pitiful existence.
Nice to see Rebecca back .
Keep going and keep highlighting Paul and Rebecca. I try to do my bit up here as I do like an obscure path and those tend to get blocked fist. Mixed results on reporting via apps - Sheffield City Council no replies and no action, Notts County Council at least wrote back to me in one instance (though not on others) to apologise that they currently did not have a PROW Officer for the District - now there's a dream job if only it paid more!
The issue is almost all the UK councils are out of money with many are formally bankrupt and thus not enforcing anything because they do not get the money to spend or even the ability to spend because they only allowed to spend money on statutory services.
Support The Ramblers and their “Don’t lose your way” campaign. Great video Paul.
We are losing access to the countryside at an alarming rate. I went to my local council and got directions to 5 local BOATS, then tried to drive them. One was blocked by concrete blocks, like the ones used in Roadworks, two were blocked by chained and padlocked gates and one was blocked by steel I beams welded together and set in concrete. So I managed to drive one of them. I spoke to my council, who basically told me they wouldn't do anything about it, as their health and safety assessment indicated approaching land owners could expose council workers to the risk of abuse and harm.
I found one the other week in Northumberland while looking for a stone circle... The circle had vanished, the footpath is fenced off and the public footpath sign had been removed and was laying in a pile of old wood and detritus by the lane.
Well thats a definite one to get fixed asap. Complaint lodged?
Sad to see there’s been no change but good on ya for following up!
If it is a listed right of way, it IS a right of way. Doesn't matter if the landowner doesn't like it. That's not the point. You should have every right to use rights of way right up to their end. Even if they are overgrown.
I remember being told that, if a Public Footpath is not walked at least once a year, it loses it's status as a right of way? I'm sure there are Ramblers across Buckinghamshire that deliberately go out of their way to walk all the lesser used footpaths once a year, simply to keep them public access.
I've spoken to a few people who do the same thing around Hertfordshire,
I don't know why but tennant farmers try to make it hard for walkers, they pull down signs and tell people who don't know the laws that they are trespassing even though they are not.
Not true, the golden rule with rights of way is 'Once a highway, always a highway'. Unless proper legal process to stop up the footpath has been gone through, the ROW will remain forever. Of course if a route becomes overgrown and that in turn discourages people from using it then it may make it slightly easier to go through the legal process of showing that the route is not needed.
I like the rhythm between the "smaller" and the longer videos, and I also feel like it's making the longer ones even better, while the short ones also feel like they don't need to be longer. Both very entertaining, please ramble on!
Something I've never thought about, but now you've brought it up, it is absolutely insane for paths to be blocked unless an active hazard/event is around.
As a society, getting around by foot, and rejuvinating our mind in nature (on foot), is being increasingly discouraged.
It's 2024, everyone should have everything they need to live/work, within a 30 minute walk (+ options for vulrenable/disabled of-course).
Randomly cutting off routes is a slippery slope which only results in worse times.
I complained to KCC over 10 year ago about a blocked footpath, it is still blocked and now so overgrown you are not able to walk down it.
Absolutely it's simply a theft of land and experience from the public.
I think it's time to serve Form 1 under Section 130A of the Highways Act 1980 to make the LHA act to have the obstruction removed. Also applied to all the branches blocking the path.
It would be great if you could document this process, as so few know about it.
I wonder if it's possible to reclaim the path the other side of the railway by proving 20 years usage in the past.
Remove the offending fence yourself, and keep doing it, you have a RIGHT of way afterall.
Really aggravates me, there's a walk near me that goes through what I guess used to be a farm but is now a stable. They erected a massive automatic gate and cameras, put no signs to indicate the footpath goes through the gate and put a buzzer to get access and a phone number in case god forbid you were walking on a Sunday or in the evening.
Personally I feel it takes somebody with a conservative (small c) outlook to get uptight about rights of way on land that isn't their house, neurotic, "home is my castle", paranoid wankers, sorry for my English.
Get the Ramblers on it?
I've come across this on a Bridleway in West Sussex, most places just have a stile or other manual gate to the side of the main electric gate for vehicles but whatever the council won't do anything unless it becomes a real issue I'd guess.
You don't need to be sorry. They are fkn w@nkers.
This is illegal, and confirmed as such by the case of Garland and Salaman vs Secretary of State, which involved a similar situation. Even a psychological barrier can legally constitute an obstruction of a right of way.
Apply the 130A of the Highways Act 1980 procedure.
Here, across the pond, there aren't 'public pathways' unless they are in a state-owned area.
There is a nice walk along the Appalachians from Maine to Georgia.
It might take a little bit of time to check it out.
Oh .. that’s only a little stroll …😂..
Just mind you don’t disappear.. I’ve heard stories about that path …😱
I had a case where a right of way had been allowed to "grow over"
Terrible fight to get through (but I did) other side was barbed wire fenced areas to make you walk away from the path & style gates roped up! Trouble here was the area mentioned is on the county boarder between Staffordshire & Shropshire!
Mailed both councils & going back soon! To see what probably has not been done!
I agree. I have noticed around here in norfolk that footpaths seem to be eaten by private landowners just putting up signs saying no footfall or worse putting up a fence...
Great job! 👏👏 A legal pathway is a legal pathway! It’s been there since forever and it’s there on the official OS maps! It’s not ok to close it off for pedestrian traffic.
I do a lot of walking in the south east of England and have experienced this. It’s very frustrating. Last year, I walked the South Downs Way. Part of the trail went across a farmers field. He/she had deliberately ploughed right across the trail making it churned up and near impossible to even walk on. Clearly, there isn’t a deterrent for landowners blocking, obstructing or farming over ancient rights of way. However, the more of us that complain, the more likely something may change. Good video and thank you.
Thanks. Just gets a tad tiring feeling like I neeeeed to make these videos.
A landowner can plough a Public Right of Way but must reinstate it within 28 days.
I’ve been known to take a bearing through a maize field over taking the perimeter route Giles wants me to.
It is also the landowners responsibility to clear any overgrown foliage and any natural blockage.
Whilst the route may well stop at the railway line, if the landowner feels there is some justification to have the right of way removed they must apply to the Council. They can’t just block it and the Council (Wiltshire in this case) must act. Apart from in one case I’ve never known Wiltshire Council act on any report of a blocked right of way.
Curiously the landowner here seems quite happy to have motorbikes hurtling through that wood but not people going for a quiet walk.
If you don't have the right to block off a right of way, then you don't have the right to build on it, meaning that regardless of ownership, I'm no more wrong for coming through with cutters and taking it down permanently. The more you put it back the more I make a point of coming back to take it down, and there's no expenditure for me to keep coming back.
Maybe the barbed wire is for the movement of stock, stopping cows going up the path instead of an adjoining field.
@@waltermcphee3787 That is irrelevant, and the answer is for the landowner to control their stock without blocking a RoW.
@@waltermcphee3787in that case put up a proper fence with a stile.
As a farm owner in Surrey we have a number of footpaths across our land, which is ok (and for context I am a keen country walker) - we are required to maintain them (at our cost), which we do, and access to them must be unfettered, again ok. We go out of our way to put in signposts, info boards, gates and stiles (at out cost) to make it easier., again all ok. The issue is when self entitled members of the public misuse these rights and wander all around our farm like they have the right to, (and you really would not believe the arrogance/anger/hostility when we politely ask them to stick to the public rights of way and not wander about our private property) and leave gates open so livestock can escape and be killed on the roads nearby, which has happened more times than our insurers will now cover, and more times than I care to recount. Its a two sided coin.
Completely agree. 99% of landowners I talk with are very much like you.
Nice to see Rebecca with you this week Paul! If there’s a Public footpath and right of way then people should be able to walk it without obstructions being put in our way!
i came across a similar problem, on an 8 mile hike, half mile from end someone had claimed the right of way as thier garden. i was 6months pregnant, there was no way or daylight to walk back, so we removed the wooden pannel, so we could catch a bus home
Take pliers with you. I've done that in the past. Generally I just use them to remove enough barbs so I can climb the fence safely.
Find out who the land owner is and publicize what they have done. Also check the membership of the council, could be that
1) Assume Something has gone wrong with the app and the info is not reaching the members (either because of a tech problem or because whoever is their IT person has been paid off by the land owner to make reports disappear) and instead contact the council members directly .
2) If there is a local newspaper drop a note to them about it (Letter to the editor or some such).
3) See if the Land owner is PART of the Council (and could be blocking things from that position). Corruption happens everywhere anyone has power in any governance system.
One of the main issues is that a lot of people who do want to get outside think the only way is to head to a national park or some kind of established attraction. Local footpaths are often neglected and just get lost. I'm sure we've all followed paths marked on OS maps that just disappear and are impossible to follow.
It also depends on how proactive councils are. Some counties are excellent at maintaining footpaths, others not so much.😊
Great video.... as a runner I often run along public footpaths (often the problem is dogs off leads) but near me the HS2 cuts through a lot of the pathways and some have been rebuild so lorry can drive through it and we can now follow the path... mind you I too have complained about the public footpath near my house so I don't have to walk along the 60mph road (with out pavement) but that hasn't been dealt with in 5 yrs.... come on Council keep our heritage open - I might add the farmers have been stars and kept the public foot paths open and I often run up to the farmers on tractors and chat... its the council here that suck
Totally agree, keep those paths open. If a path is blocked you are allowed a reasonable diversion. Cutting the barbed wire might be deemed criminal damage, but going around, under or over is OK.
It's a good idea to document as many as these as possible, I am currently on a mission to video as many routes as I can.
I reported a blocked Bridleway to the council over a year ago and recently revisited it to check and do a video, guess what, it was still blocked, I reported it again and was told "This matter has been reported to us previously and a letter has been sent to the landowner", I suspect the farmer just chucked the letter in the bin!
I have also found a section of footpath (route of a Roman road) which is on old ordnance survey maps and since disappeared and a section of footpath still shown on the Norfolk Highways Public Rights of Way website that goes straight through the track at Snetterton Race Circuit!
Some very clear defined differences between Historic rights of way, footpaths, bridleways, and permissible paths as there is with those that use them and how they are used. There are a growing number of bikers, dog walkers and ramblers who think they are entitled to do as they wish, go anywhere they wish and generally have little idea of why there are rules in the countryside which unfortunately results in anything from broken styles & fences, open gates, trees festooned in dog muck bags, theft or damage and fly tipping, as such it is an understandable frustration that leads to the landowners actions, if your considerate and polite so are we.
Same problem exits in any other context. It doesnt give anyone the right to block, for example a paved road into an area, because that area is having issues. Landowners are not "exempt" from people issues. They must deal with it lawfully, like the rest of us. Or, if taking the law into their own hands, they give up all moral and legal highground. ie, dont whine when 200m of your fence is clipped...
@@MotoMerc If it’s a permissible path we can as we wish, you cut it we will do more than whine, start looking for a new route. The law is with us not the walker.
Live and work not far from your neck of the woods. Not encouraging anyone to be the same, but for about the last 40 years I've always gone where I want, when I want, being considerate and within reason. Exploring, hiking, mountain biking, fishing etc. My job is the same, due legal easements and wayleaves. It entitles me to access public and private land. I have only once been "threatened" by a landowner(at work). Every other time a landowner has collared me, a quick apology, friendly chat and make sure you take the quickest route off their land and its been all good. I know you can't advocate this approach on your channel though. Keep up the good work👍.
We actually jave a footpath near us which is the oposite, it actually goes much further than it does on the offical map (Its not a huge path but one of our fav local dog walks, goes about 3 or 4 times the length shown and is clearly maintained)
I wonder if the landowners have had too many problems with people trashing their property? They probably don't care about people out for a walk, but don't want their place vandalized or trash left everywhere...
The issue is that people fail to respect the land, land owners end up cleaning uo there crap people just leave, you want land owners to respect right of way, respect their land
Check if the landowner has changed. If they've purchased land knowing that it includes public right of ways, and has deliberately blocked them; take the information to the local council so its no longer a case of asking the owner to remove the obstacle, it a case for *prosecution.*
The landowner is legally obliged to keep any public footpath clear on their land. Problems may occur when land ownership changes or building takes place, but the council should enforce any legal obligations, there's no excuse.
You could start the s130a procedure since they've done nothing in a year. They love that.
Ooooh... never knew this was a thing.
Would be interesting to know the true status of the path at the railway too. Was it ever formally closed or is that too a long standing obstruction?
If you don't want paths on your land, then buy land without paths on it.
Thanks for the update, albeit a depressingly predictable outcome! Sadly, it looks like we have to take equipment out with us on walks these days, in order to overcome such obstructions. I wonder what this landowner would think if they found their barbed wire fence dismantled. Angry? Ashamed?
It does get more and more tempting with each visit!
I moved a 10 foot piece of wooden fence by cutting 2 posts at ground level and moving the fence off my land into the right place and putting 2 new posts to replace the second hand posts I had cut. I got taken to court for cutting his old fence posts for criminal damage. Their could be cameras in the area. Looks as though the fence is there for stock being moved. Ask the land owner if you can put a gate there. The Council have a department for public paths. Did you write a letter? They have to reply by law.
You are absolutely right, make it a mission to open up as many as possible 👍
Nice to see you both out & about suitably attired for the weather too. With you 100% the council really should be sending out a couple of people to cut back the overhanging branches so as to make the access easier & as for the barbed wire fence & would, if I were you take an axe next time & hack down that fence. I despair at your English farmers & land owners not allowing roaming rights as we have here in Scotland. It's not as if millions of people are going to destroy the land & if the routes are maintained then there should be no problems. Best of luck trying to get a result.
Always carry a good set of wire cutters and gloves when hiking. It is amazing where you'll find barbwire blocking a path or worse find discarded barbwire that someone has got stuck in. This is true many places in the UK, EU and America.
Walkers sometimes ask about a footpath running over my friends property. It's a dead end,being built on, with council houses over one hundred years ago,yet,it's still showing as a footpath, on modern maps.
This resonates so much! I have walked into so many dead ends ... barbed wire, large trees deliberately felled across forest paths. Not in the UK, mind you, but Germany. Land owners do whatever they want, and as a hiker, you're forced to weave or jump or climb through fencing, thick branches and stuff, or to turn around after having walked down a path for a significant time. Shame :(
Most County Councils, are wobbling financially, some 6 are facing bankrupt status soon. They will not sanction legal action against wealthy landowners who can just obsfucate until the councils legal budget is exhausted and by default they win.
See East Sussex County Council V Hoogstraaten, Footpaths at Hamilton Palace, after spending £0.5M on legal costs in less than 1 year, the Council withdrew, saying they could not justify more expenditure.
Hoogstraten is a thoroughly nasty piece of work
In Scotland you can legally walk anywhere almost
I have also reported blocked paths on Hampshire County Council website, nothing done.
In my village, a few years back, the parish council found out that a homeowner had built part of his garden wall on a right of way footpath, basically nabbing 3 feet extra along the length of his garden. They took himto court and he had to demolish it and reinstate the footpath.
Someone did that near me, but their neighbours decided to do the same and so many people ended up doing it that its not feasible to take them all to court.
You should look into secton 130a of the Highways Act 1980. It allows you to serve notice on the council to force them into complying with their duty to take action to remove obstructions. They have 30 days to sort it before you can take them to court.
Might make an interesting video of you using this process.
I wish I could retire right now, move to England, and spend time with you exploring paths, canals, and hike all over the lands of my ancestors. I even have an Archaeology degree from a major university. Unfortunately I also have a mortgage and kids in college to support. Like they say, "Why don't you retire?" "Pills and bills. Pills and bills..." That's why! Keep up the great videos.
Reminds of Enid Blyton's "Famous Five" stories I read when I was a kid.I'm almost 75.Greetings from Australia.
I have run into 6ft walls with broken glass on top of them. I have run into 8ft high fences with barbed wire at highest point. I have also run into house built across a RoW. I have also run into impenetrable Plantation Forestry on them. Oh and that is Scotland as well.
Power to you both, keep reporting them !
Great that you have the passion to report this. These rights of wsy are sacred and follow ancient pathways. An important part of our freedom.
A footpath is a footpath and it’s our right to walk them. We need people like you to point out where the land owner is unlawfully land grabbing. I also get fed up with the state of some of these paths. Some are barely passable. - good vid as always 😊
I do agree with you but unfortunately we know live in a world we're making money legally or eligally is more in portent then nature. Sum times unscrupulous bunessmen are trying to get land for housesing development can get massive tax subsadys of government.
One of the reasons landowners like to block off these public rights of way, is that if they aren't maintained as a public right of way, they lose that status. That field up to the railway is worth significantly more to a developer if they don't have to care about a public right of way.
I'd cut it.
I live in Lincolnshire and our footpaths and general ability to get our and have a walk is almost impossible due to everywhere being private, mostly farm land. The landowners love to swoop on you at the slightest detour.
Our council a few years back took it that what was on the O/S map was it no more changes. So we still have paths much like the one in the video.
At the bottom of Ordnance Survey maps it states that all footpaths are ‘with permission of the landowner’.
I would bet that a farmer needed that part of THEIR land fenced off for work reasons. It is then the responsibility of the council to erect a stile.
If it's blocket off to stop farm animals from escaping then a gate should be placed there as in all pathways leading onto farmland and if farmers say they are fed up with people of thier land then they should say to keep off fields or keep to the left or right or put a fence to make a path for people to walk down or is that to easy to do.
Good to see Rebecca back, even if only for a short one. I envy the UK's rights of way laws. We don't have those in North America and most private land is off limits to walkers.
Near me the landowner used asbestos to fill in massive potholes as well as putting up big barriers on paths, and actively took down signs.. half of the abestos was moved after I reported it, nothing was done about the rest. They also enjoy hanging dead animals off of their fences. Mainly moles. I guess when the moles are out jogging and with their keen eyesight spot some cruified moles, they will be scared off?
The trouble is these days councils often don't have the staff to enforce, not matter how often things are reported, and that goes across a lot of things..
This is because the managers & micro managers are paid far to much there is never anything left in the pot to actually pay for such things.
@@andyskelton7223no, it’s because of billions of pounds of funding cuts.
@@andyskelton7223 more than managers being overpaid I'd argue that it demonstrates quite how savagely local council budgets have been cut by central government over the past 14 years
Thanks for highlighting this issue again, one which is close to my heart. I think it would be really interesting to contact the landowner and give them an opportunity to put their side of the story across (although I suspect they would decline the offer).
1st part of the issue is finding out who that is
@@pwhitewick Probably whoever owns the nearest farm? There's also the Land Registry site, where you can search by postcode or I believe even by pretty much putting a pin in the map.
Obviously this suggestion is to be taken with a large pinch of salt! I'm guessing even if you could track down the owner they would possibly just not want to talk about it, or they might be very defensive, and it overall seems unlikely it would be a fun conversation to have!