Riding on footpaths (again, sorry)

Don't you just love parish councils? I copied this :- This is not of itself an offence unless horse riding is prohibited by a traffic regulation order or a bylaw but it may be a civil wrong ('tort') against the owner of the land, so a horse rider may be committing trespass. It is possible that higher rights may exist that have not yet been recorded, and if so it would not constitute trespass. However, if a horse rider caused significant damage to a path they may have committed an offence of criminal damage, and a tort against the highway authority. If the horse riding affected the rights of legitimate users of the footpath the rider may also be guilty of causing a public nuisance.

As far as I'm aware you are within your rights to use the footpath on your land as you wish, as well as anyone with your permission. Damage to the surface would be the only issue that they could have with responsible riding.
 
Clodagh said:
What she said. The council do not own the footpath, or even the topsoil or anything. We are happy to allow people to walk on it but refuse to treat it as hallowed ground.
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PC's treat everything as hollowed ground, they are a law unto themselves! My OH is on our PC as the token farmer as well, last harvest they tried to persuade him to observe a 9pm curfew in the village for tractors - I think most of them in rural villages forget that villages grew up around the farms, and most footpaths are only there to connect houses to churches and the farm!
 
RunToEarth said:
PC's treat everything as hollowed ground, they are a law unto themselves! My OH is on our PC as the token farmer as well, last harvest they tried to persuade him to observe a 9pm curfew in the village for tractors - I think most of them in rural villages forget that villages grew up around the farms, and most footpaths are only there to connect houses to churches and the farm!
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That made me laugh! Oh has just come in and I showed it to him as well. Classic! He also liked the token farmer bit.
 
RunToEarth said:
The right of way extended to third parties does not limit what you are able to do on your own land, it just limits/extends rights to other people.

OP - yes you can ride on your footpath, you can do whatever you want on it. Our driveway is a footpath, and if I lived as the above ^^ I wouldn't be able to ride or drive down it...
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Ah right. That makes sense.
 
Where I used to live, a local farmer decided to do a permissive bridleway through his farmland (his daughter rode, so he had a vested interest in having a safe route available). Part of it went over an existing footpath and some locals were really not happy about horses being able to use the footpath, even though it went diagonally across a field and the farmer cleared a wide area (far bigger than for a footpath) so that there was enough room for horses and walkers to pass safely. The gates were tied shut to prevent horses from accessing it, flappy plastic was tied on the gates, again to make it hard for horseriders to use. In the end the farmer put up notices at both ends saying that it was a permissive bridleway with a map showing the route, plus it was announced in the local paper I believe, so that everyone knew that the horses were OK to use it.
 
I suspect if you actually check who is on your PC, that you actually have a rider on there who would like to ride on your path, but as they arent a'friend' they cant. In my experience the PC are a bunch of busy bodies who are so into self interest that rarely do the rules and laws get looked at. They create their own version of them. And never discuss they pontificate. Tell them to do one :) And provide you with the actual clause that prohibits your use of your own land. Course you can ride on your own land, you can do exactly what you want on your own land as long as its legal. You can put a style up, you can fence the foot path, you can graze animals on it..... you just cannot stop use of it by walkers. You can stop riders and cyclists as it is not a bridle way. But you as the landowner have to stop them. The Parish Council dont have a legal right to stop anyone, it would be you as the landlord. So they are being the usual jobsworths that you come to expect from PCs.
 
amymay said:
Surely it being your land has no bearing on the matter. If that piece of land is a designated public footpath, then horses shouldn't be ridden on it.
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Not so , you can ride on a footpath with the permission of the land owner I do it all the time .
However the landowner is responsible for making sure the footpath is passable on foot so if it gets in a terrible mess the land owner would be responsible for remedying that .
 
Goldenstar said:
Not so , you can ride on a footpath with the permission of the land owner I do it all the time .
However the landowner is responsible for making sure the footpath is passable on foot so if it gets in a terrible mess the land owner would be responsible for remedying that .
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From the BHS website...

Is it illegal to ride on a footpath?
Unless a traffic regulation order or relevant bylaw prohibits equestrian use, it is not a criminal offence to ride on a footpath. You may be trespassing unless you have the permission of the landowner, unless there are unrecorded higher rights on the path. If riding caused significant damage to the path it could constitute an act of criminal damage.
 
Thank you all. We do try to keep them passable generally, although the council prefer the country park x pavement look.
 
Our drive is a public bridleway. As the landowners we are allowed to drive any form of vehicle along it bridleway or not. Likewise we can give others permission to do the same.

PC need to get their facts right but as you say, they like the manicured look!
 
juragan said:
Definitely that currently being your current territory doesn't have any displaying around the matter. When that parcel is usually a selected open footpath, next horse really should not be ridden on there.
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sorry?
 
You have your answer - your friend can continue to ride on the footpath. Reminds me of a dispute a few years ago. There is a track alongside the garden of the big house in the village that connects with a small estate of council houses and it was used every day by children going to school and mothers with prams going to the shop. Also by a local racing stable so the horses didn't have to go on the main road. I think it was officially a footpath and the parents got very stroppy about the horses using it, and there was a public meeting! In the end it turned out that the land was owned by the Big House and he said he was quite happy with the horses using it, as he liked to see them! Since the surface is firm they didn't damage it, so they continued to use it. Some blighter moaned at me when I took my daughters new pony along it so we avoided the main road, about the only time in 10 years that I used it!
 
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