Bridleways access - who to contact?

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CrazyMare

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Anyone know who I contact with regards to bridleways being difficult to access?

Want to contact them re a local farmer who has made the bridleway so difficult to use. Improvements have been made recently, but not enough.
 
I would be interested to in a contact; I have a problem with a bridle path in my village, there is only one even though there are miles & miles of countryside (private land) this one bridle path goes through a farm yard & the farm fields, now the farmer has put 3 gates up and put sheep in one field, cows (bullocks) in the next field & today when we went through he has two mad horses in the next field, we had to get off and lead our horses through as the two turned out horses were going mad and chasing our horses!
This farmer once told me that he hated horses on his land as every horse hoof print is one less mouthful of grass for his sheep!
 
Yeah me too actually. Are they allowed to have cows on a bridle path? (if it is a thin type field?)

Also who owns bridle paths, is it the council or the farmers?

Also there is field with crops but no where to ride next to it (it is a bridle path) i.e no gap and I am sure the farmer doesn't want me to trample on his crops but what else am I do to ? So I wanted to contact them and ask where we should be as there are some others which doesn't have signs so it's easy to get lost. Who do you ask to find out exactly where it should go?
 
Whenever there has been a problem with bridleways, i've contacted the local council. They have a department that covers bridleways and have always been very good.
 
I believe the Council own the surface and the space above the bridleway, and the landowner owns the land beneath the surface of the bridleway.

This means that the Council have a duty to maintain the surface of the bridleway and any overhanging branches etc, but if the landowner finds a gold seam under the land then it remains his!!

So in response to the two posts above, it's not the farmer's grass so he has no right to tell you not to walk on it (as long as you stick to the path) and same with the crops.
 
The other problem we have with our one bridlepath is there is no signs - anywhere.

We got told off my the grumpy farmer for going through one gate and told to go thorough another one, then the next time we saw him he told us off for going that way!

I shouted at him and told him to put put signs up - he just walked off!
confused.gif
 
Just to add, if you can get your hands on a copy of the BHS magazine, it will have your local BHS Access Officers listed in there - they should know who in the Council you need to speak to and will hopefully advise you on what you need to say etc.
 
The local council is definitely your best bet. I had a great experience recently- I contacted mine about a bridleway which was virtually impassable in wet weather unless you liked riding through hock deep mud!! They have built a small bridge (horse friendly) over the boggy bit and put in new surfaces on the paths leading to it, so it really is worth letting them know you are having a problem :-)
 
Any gate on a bridleway must freely open from horse back. If it does not do this it will be treated as an obstruction under Rights of Way La and the landowner will be obliged to replace it with a compliant gate.

If you are having problems with the precise line /route of a public right of way then contact the Access Department of your local County Council and ask them for the route as it is marked on the definitive map and also ask them to waymark the route with signs. (The definitive map is the master map held by the County Council of Public Rights of Ways in their area). It shows the precise line they take and also the status.

Some County Council Access Departments operate more efficiently than others so I always advise people to write to them enclosing a map which shows the exact location of the problem and send it to them by Royal Mail Signed For Delivery so that there is no doubt they received it. You may find you have to write to them several times to get a response or action.

You can always contact your local BHS Access Officer if you require further assistance in prompting the local County council to take action.

If you let me know your nearest town and also your county I can always send you the contact details of your BHS Bridleway/Access officer. You can Email me on info@bhs-herts.org.uk

Good luck Peter Natt BHS Accesss Officer Hertfordshire
 
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