Sign Up And Save Historic Paths

The Ramblers' Association is asking walkers to sign an online petition on the No. 10 web site calling for the repeal of four sections of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act and save paths for the future.

Sections 53 to 56 of the Act introduced a deadline for the recording of historic rights of way on definitive maps, which are the legal record of public rights of way. Many pre-1949 paths which aren't recorded by 1 January, 2026 could be lost forever.

The government originally funded a project to record the potential 20,000 routes which could be lost, many of them in towns and cities, but the 'Discoverering Lost Ways' project has been terminated without, says the RA, recording a single route.

Without this mechanism, the RA believes that the repeal of the cut-off date is essential, hence the petition which you can sign at petitions.pm.gov.uk/repeal2026/.

More about the Ramblers' Association at www.ramblers.org.uk