Footpath Co-Ordinator

Broken stiles, fallen trees and walls etc are potentially dangerous to our members as well as causing delays on our walks.  In England and Wales the body responsible for maintaining public rights of way and keeping them free from obstructions is called the Highway Authority. In practice, this is the county council or unitary authority.It is the responsibility of the landowner to maintain stiles and gates on a footpath; however, they can claim 25 % of their costs for maintenance and repair from the Highway Authority. The Highway Authority can also complete any necessary works on stiles and gates themselves if they are not kept in proper repair and send the bill to the landowner. Our committee member Catherine Maher has offered to report such issues. To assist her in doing this it would be helpful if you could take a photo of the problem on your phone and make an accurate note of the location, (village, fell ,area etc so she knows which map it is on  and therefore which local authority to contact) and also where possible provide an OS grid reference and what3words reference (what3words.com or  free mobile app  available from the Apple App Store or on Google Play). For those using the OS app this is very simply found by holding your finger on the arrow  pinpointing your current location...a 10 figure reference will appear on your screen.  There are also two  other free phone apps.."GPS OS" which will also instantly  give 10 figure coordinates of your location and "Grid Ref" which will give you 6.  Catherine can be contacted via "Contact Us" on the dropdown section of our website...