When it’s best to let old paths drop off the map
SIR Tom Ough’s article Features, January 27) about footpaths at risk of being “lost forever” overlooks the point that the 2026 cut off-date to apply to have old paths added to the definitive map was introduced as part of the 2000 Countryside and Rights of Way act. Some may feel that 26 years is ample notice.
Mr Ough guesses that the path he walked with Stuart Maconie may have linked two farms in times gone by, but this would not necessarily have made it a public footpath. Either way, paths (public or not) which have fallen into disuse have generally done so because they are no longer needed. The people who used to use them – postmen, for example, or visiting tradespeople – prefer to travel by other means.
It is true that the definitive map is flawed, but this is not just because some have been left off – others have been incorrectly recorded. It is nigh-on impossible to correct the route of a path, with Ordnance Survey maps and witnesses ignored by the authorities.
Councils cannot afford to maintain the existing network. The Ramblers may do good work, but they are hell-bent on keeping all existing paths and adding more, which can cause difficulties for farmers (and homeowners with a path through their garden). What is needed is a network fit for current use: paths in the right places that councils (which we all pay for) can afford to maintain.
I speak not as a landowner but as an ordinary dog-owner who uses footpaths and supports their existence; but I also have the misfortune to have one through my garden.
Roger Bevan Cavendish, Suffolk