Talk:Rights of way in England and Wales

Re: my edit about it being OK to have bridleways that a bike can't use, I'll quote an email source:

(Section 30 Countryside Act 1968) made it clear that cyclists were granted the right subject to them having to give way to pedestrian & equestrian users and cycle use having no implications for maintenance. Specifically the act says that it 'shall not create any obligation to facilitate the use of the bridleway by cyclists'. So as & when a bridleway is suitable for cycle usage you have the right to use it. - Adrian Fett, Rights of Way Officer (Ouse Valley) in Bedfordshire County Council

Ojw 15:58, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

Horses act

Weird. The horses (protective headgear) act was referenced in our definition of a bridleway, but act itself looks like it's just repeating/clarifying the definition from the Road Traffic Act 1988, so that it can define what a "road" is, so that it can prevent children riding on them without hats:

(2) For the purposes of the definition of "road" in subsection (1) above—

...

(b) "bridleway" means a way over which the public have the following, but no other, rights of way: a right of way on foot and a right of way on horseback or leading a horse, with or without a right to drive animals of any description along the way. [1]

Offtopic: (To me, that makes no sense. If bridleway is defined like that, then surely the definition doesn't apply to any of the actual bridleways in the UK (because they additionally give the public the right to cycle on them) so wouldn't that make all bridleway-related provisions in the horses act irrelevant?)

Anyway, it might be worth looking-up the other laws which are used to define bridleways, so that we can check our own definitions here. Unfortunately, lots of this stuff is too old for OPSI to have electronic copies of, which makes research that much more tedious. Ojw 18:24, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

Do UK-style footpaths exist in other countries?

Are there any in Aus, NZ, Can, US, for example? Places where emmigrants from the UK have lived for centuries might have them. Jamaica, even.

Drastic measures

Looking at the photo of cyclists on a bridleway: I know there's a legal obligation to keep footpaths, etc, clear, but even so it seems rather over the top to split the tree from top to bottom to drive the bridleway through ;-)

--Tivedshambo (talk) 21:19, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

What about Northern Ireland?

The article is called "Rights of way in the United Kingdom", but it only deals with England, Wales and Scotland. Do rights of way exist in Northern Ireland, and if so what is their legal status? --Blisco 22:14, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

Completely different legal jurisdiction, so they have different laws. Despite some trawling of various motorcycle green lane forum I've never come across anyone saying weather if it or isn't legal/they exist in Northern Ireland. I'm similarly in the dark about the ROI, Guernsey (inc Alderney and Sark) and Jersey. I know they do exist in a slightly different form on the IOM. Pickle 15:24, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

"The site also mentions that walkers may:"

Which site would this be? The one referenced by footnote 1, or a completely different site? It needs to be mentioned, specifically, in the body of the text. 86.132.139.228 (talk) 23:09, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

This old edit shows what that paragraph was intended to mean. Someone has since rephrased the starting sentence without checking whether the rest of the section still makes sense. Road Wizard (talk) 23:26, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

How many miles? Compared with other countries? Are they unique to UK?

It would be interesting to know the total mileage of footpaths and bridleways, and this total divided by population. I'm getting the impression that the UK network of footpaths may be unique in the world, and thus a great national treasure. 89.243.46.238 (talk) 13:33, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Also - the Isle of Wight has more footpaths per square mile than any other part of the UK. Plus - is there anything anywhere about just how old some of these paths are and how the whole "right of way" thing arose in law? Also - what about various notable wars between landowners and the rest of us, trying to close them or move them, in past centuries? And recently for that matter. I'll see if I can dig anything up - but its not really my area. George Bernard Shaw covers one such fictional punch up in one of his rare novels "The Unsocial Socialist", pre-WWI. Theres a bit where the landowner wants to close a footpath and instead allow "well conducted workpeople" to pass to and from work along another path of his choosing. Of course the point is made that with the right of way (which passes close to the big posh house) people have the right to pass and repass, as badly conducted as they like. Its all quite a big part of UK social history.Fainites ^barleyscribs 21:17, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

Category:Footpaths vs.Category:Long-distance footpaths in the United Kingdom

Category:Long-distance footpaths in the United Kingdom made a category within Category:Footpaths. — Robert Greer (talk) 21:26, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Public footpath

Footpath links to the article Trail but that does not seem to mention any UK footpaths. 89.242.147.172 (talk) 12:40, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

Americans spell it as "Right-of-way".86.42.195.140 (talk) 10:12, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

The pleasure of walking along footpaths

In addition to the mostly dry legal stuff here, it would be nice to give information about just how dense and commonplace the networks of footpaths are, particularly as they seem to be unique to the UK as far as I can find out. And some literary quotations or references about the joys of walking along them through the countryside, and a photograph of a family enjoying them, would be good to add. 89.242.147.172 (talk) 12:55, 19 April 2009 (UTC)

Marine & Coastal Access Bill

Should something be added here or in another article about the proposed Marine & Coastal Access Bill? Natural England have just done a survey of coastal paths in preparation for this - see Mapping the gaps in England’s coastal access.— Rod ^talk 08:42, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

See also Wainwright, Martin (2009-07-31). "England to clear coast of barbed wire, blocked paths and irate landowners". The Guardan. Retrieved 2009-07-31..— Rod ^talk 17:14, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Questions about this article

A couple of questions on this article. In the first line, it says people the right to "pass and repass" -- does repass mean pass again? If so, isn't that implied by a right to pass? Or is it supposed to mean that people can travel in any direction on them? Or something else entirely? And the other question is "stopping up" - what does that mean? Thanks. --AW (talk) 22:08, 19 November 2010 (UTC)

Yes. Not if you've got a pedantic legal mind. That as well. Don't think so. I expect its legal jargon, perhaps closing a footpath for some reason. 92.15.11.100 (talk) 15:23, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

Example OS map

It would be nice to show, if possible, part of an OS map that showed examples of the dashed green lines of footpaths and bridleways. The OS appear to be more free with copyright recently. 92.15.11.100 (talk) 15:25, 14 March 2011 (UTC)