Herefordshire’s historic Boat Lane, near Ross-On-Wye, is now on the map
We are delighted that the ancient Boat Lane, in the parishes of Goodrich and Walford south of Ross-on-Wye, has been added to Herefordshire Council’s definitive map of public paths, after a 20-year campaign. The route was claimed in 2003 by the society’s former local correspondent for south Herefordshire, Owen Morgan. He argued that the lane…
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How to use MAGIC
Do you want to know about the location of sites of special scientific interest, the distance between two places on a road or footpath, registered common land boundaries or to measure the area of a plot of land – we could go on? But the answer is almost certainly to be found in MAGIC. MAGIC…
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2026 Guillotine for historic ways is to be abolished
We are delighted that the government is to scrap the 2026 deadline for recording historic paths in England. This deadline has, for more than 20 years, threatened our unique path-network. The deadline meant that on 1 January 2026, public rights over thousands of paths, which are public highways but not yet recorded as such, or…
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Insider hacks: Public access and rights of way guidance the Government doesn’t want you to see
The Government has progressively reduced the amount of information available to the public on the web. Sometimes it has done this by rewriting guidance so that it is easier to understand — but sometimes it has just removed guidance altogether, either because it thinks there is insufficient interest, or because no-one is left to update…
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Our new watchdog in Herefordshire
David Howerski is our new local correspondent for the old South Herefordshire district of Herefordshire. David lives in Eaton Bishop, about four miles west of Hereford. He has had many careers, as both a parachute instructor and professional sky-diver. For ten years he was a Drop Zone Operator on the Gower Peninsula, and in later…
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2021 Report for the Stakeholder Working Group on Unrecorded Public Rights of Way
The aim of the Deregulation Act 2015 is to speed up the processing and determination of path claims. It is the result of many years’ work, and the consensus reached, by the rights of way stakeholder working group, consisting of balanced representation from landowners, local authorities and users. Our general secretary Kate Ashbrook is a…
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The government’s betrayal on access—but it’s not too late
The society and other user groups have long campaigned for payments for access to be a part of the new, post-Brexit, environmental land management scheme (ELMS). We were dismayed when this was not included in the announcement on funding for the first level, the sustainable farming incentive (SFI). But the environment secretary, George Eustice, is…
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Government ignores public access in new farm payments
Our general secretary, Kate Ashbrook, comments on the government’s lamentable failure to introduce public access into the new agricultural funding-regime. We are dismayed that the government’s new, post-Brexit, environmental land management scheme (ELMS), published on 2 December, fails to offer payments for public access and paths on farmland. This is despite repeated commitments from ministers,…
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Important missing link in Millennium Walk created at Maidenhead
The Millennium Walk, a joint project of Maidenhead Civic Society and East Berks Ramblers, is a valuable trail as it links Hurley with Maidenhead Riverside, connecting with the Thames Path National Trail at both ends and opens up several pleasant circular walks. From Pinkneys Green it follows the Boundary Walk, a signed walk that follow…
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