‘A right not a thing’. This bridleway west of Kendal
wasn’t very clear on the ground at this point.
of interest are outlined in the table
over the page. Mobility scooters and
powered wheelchairs are also entitled
to use all RoWs and Open Access Land.
England
England has about 146,000km of
footpath, 32000km of bridleway,
6000km of restricted byway and
3700km of byways open to all traffic.
Only 22% of the RoW network is open
to bikes and horses.
Wales
In December 2013 the Welsh
Government published a consultation
paper on Developing integrated
legislation for outdoor recreation.
Two key principles are: presumption
in favour of increasing access for
responsible recreation and meet the
needs of the widest possible range
of activities. Organisations such as
OpenMTB, Cycling UK, and the British
Mountaineering Council became very
actively involved in campaigning and
lobbying.
The Welsh Government has just
(June 2018) announced, ‘There were
strong but differing views on how
best to reform access legislation. We
therefore believe that now is not the
right time for substantive reform.
But we are committed to exploring
selected aspects of change where there
was greater consensus...’ As yet it’s
completely unclear what ‘exploring
selected aspects of change’ may mean.
In any case, for now the law remains
the same as in England. The total RoW
network in Wales is about 33000km.
Scotland
A clear footpath (also part of the
Dales Way) in Wharfedale.
Scotland’s law is different. Even before
The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003,
there was no distinction between
footpath and bridleway, and it was
generally presumed that cyclists and
horse-riders were entitled to follow
any RoW. However RoWs as such were
relatively thin on the ground – less
than half the total for Wales. There was
no obligation on local authorities to
record them and they weren’t shown
on OS maps. The 2003 Act introduced
Core Paths, roughly equivalent
to bridleways, and charged local
authorities to identify and maintain
these.
Much more radically, the Act
also instituted the Scottish Access
Code, which broadly follows the gold
standard established by the Nordic
countries, often known as ‘Every
Man’s Right’. The Code’s access rights,
covering most land in Scotland, permit
walking, cycling, mountaineering,
canoeing and horse riding. Exceptions
are houses and their gardens and,
usually, land on which crops are
growing.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland has a worse position
on RoWs; even for walkers, access is
much more limited than the rest of
the country, as far fewer RoWs are
identified. As the Countryside Act 1968
did not apply here, bridleways are
strictly speaking only open to walkers
and horse-riders.
Establishing a right of way
One way to establish a RoW is if a
landowner dedicates it as such. In
fact, Riddall and Trevelyan observe,
“Relatively few highways can be
shown to have been expressly
dedicated.” Most Rights of Way are
established, instead, by the ‘inference
of dedication’. The basic test for this
is that the route has been used by the
public ‘as of right’ for 20 years or
longer.
However, the test fails if a
landowner has in any way indicated an
autumn 2018 | Outdoor focus 7