Western Daily Press (Saturday)
50,000 miles of footpaths could close, says charity
TENS of thousands of miles of public footpaths could be closed to the public under Government rules, campaigners have warned.
The walking charity Ramblers says “over 49,000 miles of paths ... could be lost forever” because walking routes have to be registered by January 1, 2026. Any routes not registered by the deadline will be blocked from being added to the list at a later date, meaning the public will lose the right of way for ever.
The charity’s website shows 76 miles of paths in Bristol that could be lost, and it says 910 miles of paths could disappear in Gloucestershire and 1,406 miles in Somerset.
“From 1 January 2026, it will no longer be possible to add rights of way to the legal record (the definitive map) in England and Wales on the basis of historical evidence,” Ramblers said in a statement.
“Unrecorded routes, many of which go back centuries, need to be identified and claimed before the 2026 cutoff so they can be secured for generations to come.
“These unrecorded routes exist in law: many exist on the ground and are in current use, whilst others would provide useful additional routes and linkages to the existing network. All are in danger of having their rights permanently extinguished in 2026.”
The charity is fighting for an extension of the cut-off to 2031 to allow more time to register the thousands of footpaths. In England, that power lies solely with the environment secretary, currently George Eustice.
The Labour government in Wales has already indicated it will abandon the 2026 date, while the UK Government has said it is “discussing a potential extension”.
More than 14,000 people signed a petition arguing for the deadline to be extended to 2036. The petition closed earlier this year.
In response, the Government said: “We are committed to protecting rights of way. The cut-off date is currently 2026 and could be extended by regulations for up to five years. We are discussing a potential extension with stakeholders.”
The 2026 date was first set in 2000 under the then Labour government’s Countryside and Rights of Way Act, which, among other objectives, aimed to give landowners certainty.
Ramblers is appealing for volunteers to help find lost and unrecorded paths, and for funds to help it on its mission to protect public rights of way.