Footpaths/bridleways questions

Achinghips

Achinghips

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To get to our local bridlepath, we have to use the busy road, which has parked cars on both sides - not easy. There is, however, a public footpath and a playing field which would serve as ideal for us to cross, owned by the council, leading directly to it. The public footpath is a little narrow, and it is short, but it could be widened.
Questions:
Is it DEFO illegal for us to use it or would it be legal if we went back and picked up any pooh?
If so, how might I go about getting permission for it to be modified so horses can use it?
 
Horses are not allowed on footpaths, regardless of whether you pick up any poo or not.

The best way forwards may be to contact your local bridleways officer from the BHS to work on your behalf and also speak to the council rights of way department.

You can fight to get a change of use, but I think you have to prove that the footpath has been regularly used by horses for at least twenty years and it is a lengthy process.

Let's hope the council are sympathetic, good luck!
 
Yes it is deffinately illegal for horse riders to use any footpath...no matter what the path is, whether field or track and no matter where it is. If you phone up the council for your area and go through to the rights of way department they will be able to send you out a form/application to request a change of use to a bridleway...but be aware that this may take many months or even years, if it is even changed and you will need more than one of you to petition for it.
 
ok, I get it - just. If horses aren't allowed on footpaths, proof of 20 years use can't be found as noone will use it because they're not allowed - wierd
 
so what is the penalty likely to be imposed, plenty of motorbikes use b.o.a.t.s out of season and cant be done for just trepass only damage.
 
I think you have to start with asking the landowner if he would allow an upgrade, then once you have the permission the best thing to do is ask your Parish Council to take it up on your behalf, one of the reasons being that yo have to ride down a dangerous road.
 
Rotchana said:
To get to our local bridlepath, we have to use the busy road, which has parked cars on both sides - not easy. There is, however, a public footpath and a playing field which would serve as ideal for us to cross, owned by the council, leading directly to it. The public footpath is a little narrow, and it is short, but it could be widened.
Questions:
Is it DEFO illegal for us to use it or would it be legal if we went back and picked up any pooh?
If so, how might I go about getting permission for it to be modified so horses can use it?
Click to expand...

yes, it is definately illegal for you to ride along a footpath.

You can fight to get a change of use, but I think you have to prove that the footpath has been regularly used by horses for at least twenty years and it is a lengthy process.
Click to expand...

Not exactly... but it is a lengthy process, involving historic research, getting user references etc etc.

OP, Contact your local bridleways charity, if you have one. The BHS website has a decent enough section of rights of way here: http://www.bhs.org.uk/Riding/Riding_Off_Road/Rights_of_Way_FAQ.aspx

Somewhere among that you will find your local bridleways agency (charity) - best thing to do is to give them a ring and see what they suggest. It may be that they are working on campaigning for something similar, or have tried and failed, or if they haven't then they can advise you what the next steps are.

If you don't have a group covering your local area, or if you don't get anywhere with them, contact the BHS Access department, and/or your local council PROW service.

I'm working for a local bridleways group at the moment - be nice to them, if they are anything like ours they will all be volunteers, and do a heck of a lot of work behind the scenes, and get naff all support from us mere mortals who then go and take it all for granted :D
 
mon said:
so what is the penalty likely to be imposed, plenty of motorbikes use b.o.a.t.s out of season and cant be done for just trepass only damage.
Click to expand...

Wheeled vehicles including motorbikes are allowed on BOATS - whereas horses aren't allowed on footpaths.

http://www.naturenet.net/row/rowdefinitions.html

Not sure about the penalties - that's IF the path is passable for horses. I suspect the landowner would simply install styles or other non-horse friendly furniture.
 
Also have a look at local council (might be county rather than district) docs on their website re countryside, access, and roads. Horse riders are 'vulnerable users' like pedestrians and cyclists and most councils have to have a statement re their policy to improve access and safety for them, which is then useful to remind them of when you are
discussing and they are making excuses.

Do not under any circums start using the track while its still a FP, the walkers will have a stile or kissing gate shoved up quicker than you can blink (cos they dont like sharing or horse poo!) and then you really would be stuffed, once the council pays money to erect as barrier its incredibly hard to get it removed again.

Council prob have a rights of way person, as does BHS, both useful to involve. Try to show on a map/with photos the reasons why this would be a sensible upgrade. It doesnt have to have been used in the past for them to decide to upgrade it now, esp if its a safety issue.

Remind them that a wider nice horse friendly surface can also make it more accessible for wheelchairs and pushchairs, and see if any landfill tax funds could be used as they sometimes are for this type of thing.

good luck!
 
lot of the BOATS afound here are not meant to be usedby wheeled vehicles oct- april but some people do and other old bridleways are now BOATS and hence dangerous for horses to use, but never here of them being prosecuted.
 
mon said:
lot of the BOATS afound here are not meant to be usedby wheeled vehicles oct- april but some people do and other old bridleways are now BOATS and hence dangerous for horses to use, but never here of them being prosecuted.
Click to expand...

whether they can be prosecuted will depend on whether there has been a legal notice banning the use or whether it is simply a code of good practice not to use it. Without full legals, the default position is that vehicles are allowed to used BOATs, which after all stands for Byway Open to all Traffic.

We get into tricky ground as riders when we try to prevent other legitimate users making use of tracks given that it then allows the mass of users who dont want anything except walkers to do the same to us, so Im wary of it in general. Having said that there are some hotspots where it can be needed to preserve any access by anyone!
 
Rotchana said:
Thanks for the suggestions everyone - fantastic and really helpful:)
What's a B.O.A.T?
Click to expand...

A Byway Open to All Traffic, which means its primary purpose is a footpath or bridlway, but wheeled vehicles (including horse carriages) are also allowed to use it. :)
 
Ehmmm, we're in a similar situation where I am, trying to get old paths opened up. About 15 years ago, someone collated a whole lot of "evidence" and submitted it to the BHS Bridleways person, who apparently said thank you very much and did sweet FA with it!!

So personally I'd be getting in touch with the local parish council and/or Bridleways & Rights of Way officers at your county hall, and go that route, rather than wait for the BHS to do anything, coz they were pretty useless when we tried!! Sorry if that offends, but its the truth.
 
Your local council should have published a Rights of Way Improvement programme and hopefully the local BHS will have contributed to this. It is OK to ride on a public footpath if you have the permission of the landowner.

Go carefully because you don't want to alarm people (as soon as you mention horses some people imagine the local hunt going through). Stress road safety issues, maybe the Council would give you permissive access rather than alter the status from footpath to bridlepath.

There is an easier way to upgrade footpaths to bridlepaths, look on the Trails Trust website.
http://www.mctt.org.uk/
 
Just an interesting side note having spoken to the council man who looks after all rights of way in our area. My complaint (OK, whinge) was cyclists - racing on bridleways - I have had a couple of unpleasant "discussions" when meeting a bunch of them on a race. In one instance, they seriously wanted me to press my very OTT and 17 hh mare into a hedge so 40 cyclists can squeeze past. Told them they were welcome but mare cowkicked and I could absolutely guarantee that most would get walloped. Second was when they ran a race in winter and so badly cut up the ground that it was unusuable - for riders AND walkers. This when we could only hack..

So, in Surrey, if you are faced with a bunch of cyclists claiming right of way as they are in a race.. ask them if they have requested permission from the council - they can claim they are just doing time trials which means they don't need to say anything but a race is supposed to be logged - and damage made good. I will be checking next time we have a race run by us - apparently very few are ever logged!
 
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