Do you think we have lost bridleways due to definitive map?Ramblers

[indie999]

Just remembering all the footpaths (yes I know was a naughty youngster but noone cared) that i cant ride on now as they are registered etc/have quaint bridges/muddy fields with special gates for all the buggies etc. Do you think so? Officialdom and too many rights that have taken areas away or am I wrong??? I sometimes think we all think we have a voice but everyone has so no one listens in the end.....if you know where I am coming from.............

Sorry being an eternal pessimist that if its not documented its goodbye?!?

 

[Sheep]

Some of us basically never had them to start with

 

[Mike007]

NO, and as for the ramblers association, what a bunch of wankers. I used to have a farm ,on which a bridlepath had been moved by a court order. One day I had 50 or so ramblers turn up wanting to walk across my seed corn . I pointed out that their map was 15 years out of date yet they still tried to cross. Oddley enough ,it wasnt untill one of my farm workers turned up (the one with "love and hate tattoed on his knuckles")that they decided to stick to the footpath.

 

[Maesfen]

Many original paths were permissive ones (ones the farmer/landowner allowed you to use but weren't official paths of any sort) They were all graded I believe in the 50s as to which type they were, footpath, bridlepath, carriageway and so on. If nobody said it was used as a bridlepath then it was classed as a footpath; remember no internet and not that many phones then either, all had to be by letter and many farmers just didn't bother to clarify which they should be but still allowed them to be used as bridlepaths for local people. A lot of the problems started when the land was sold and unless it had been classed as a bridleway, the new owner was quite entitled to shut its use down to footpath only (it happened on a neighbouring farm here; the original farmer is spitting blood about it but nothing he can do now as he didn't state in the sale details that it was a bridlepath; what's worse is the new owner is a rider herself and has barred everyone from a very useful track which means a 4 mile detour along the A41 now to get to the same place!) When you think how much land has been sold in the last 30 years that had been in the same family ownership for generations, it's not surprising that we've lost so many but it all stems from the original surveys done in the 50s; that classified what we have today of the old paths.

 

[Thistle]

Maesfen is spot on. The rights of was were classified in the 50's. Parish councils were asked to state what they had. many of the big farmers were on the parish councils and classified them all as footpaths to save hassle

 

[Pedantic]

Ours are broken up with industrial/housing/commercial/roads eyesores, they "sometimes" "pretend" to cater for us, I soldier on in a lot of cases as my youtube video's show, this one particularly, handy for them when nobody use's them the routes so they can then claim "oh nobody use it so we can close it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEUOCqrvCXE

 

[sywell]

We managed to reclaim a footpath with styles on it to upgrade to a bridleway so it can be done. I find the RA and the Blue Book invaluable for any ROW issues and do not forget your Local Access Forum for ROW issues.