Landowner Responsibilities

The landowner must

• Keep back side growth and overhanging vegetation which may be encroaching onto the path
• Refrain from obstructing rights of way
• Refrain from ploughing a footpath or bridleway which constitutes the headland of a field, or runs alongside a hedgerow.
• Ensure that paths across fields are reinstated two weeks after ploughing and making sure that the line of a right of way is clear through crops
• Obtain the consent of the County Council before erecting new stiles or gates on rights of way and ensuring that all are kept in a safe and usable condition and replaced when necessary
• Not allow any dairy bull over ten months of age free range of any field through which a footpath or bridleway passes.

The landowner may

• Provide for improved access for dogs
• Protect land against the acquisition of further public rights on their land
• With our prior consent, improve the surface of the right of way beyond the standard required for its status (for example surfacing a footpath that also serves as a driveway)

Plough Crops and Paths A practical guide for landowners and tenants 259kb pdf

The landowner has the right to expect that visitors on their land will treat it with respect and care and follow the Countryside Code. The County Council will do what it can to ensure that rights of way are not used inappropriately.