Part public road/part footpath/private road

EachPenny

To me it sounds like the person preparing the response to the recent search has either used incorrect information, or has not adequately qualified the information given in relation to each part of the road.

As davidmcn says, a public highway (road or path) cannot quietly cease to be public. A legal order has to be made and advertised, and notices put up on the street. Most authorities would also write to individual resident who are directly affected. Unless you've missed all the efforts to advertise the order, then the status hasn't changed (although it is possible it was and still is private).

It sounds like the assumption that the 'road' starts as public and then becomes a privately owned public footpath is reasonable.

But another scenario to keep in mind is a 'privately owned public footpath' could be adjacent to the public 'road' - the division between the two running lengthwise until the public 'road' stops and only the footpath continues. It is legally possible for a footpath and road to run alongside each other with no apparent boundary between the two.

carnassials

EachPenny wrote: »

To me it sounds like the person preparing the response to the recent search has either used incorrect information, or has not adequately qualified the information given in relation to each part of the road.

As davidmcn says, a public highway (road or path) cannot quietly cease to be public. A legal order has to be made and advertised, and notices put up on the street. Most authorities would also write to individual resident who are directly affected. Unless you've missed all the efforts to advertise the order, then the status hasn't changed (although it is possible it was and still is private).

It sounds like the assumption that the 'road' starts as public and then becomes a privately owned public footpath is reasonable.

But another scenario to keep in mind is a 'privately owned public footpath' could be adjacent to the public 'road' - the division between the two running lengthwise until the public 'road' stops and only the footpath continues. It is legally possible for a footpath and road to run alongside each other with no apparent boundary between the two.

Thank you! I looked up our road on the Kent List of Roads Gazetteer and it does say part publicly maintainable highway/part private street. Certainly no notice was given of a change. It would appear our initial search was incorrect?

Badger50

You might try submitting a written Freedom of Information Act request to the council asking for everything they have on the status of the road. It should give you a much more comprehensive answer than the tick box level of detail you get in a LA search.

Beenie

Badger, how do we do a FOI request? Our house is situated on a public footpath/bridleway that existed long before the formation of LAs and we were told it has never been adopted. I would like to know the history of it though - we are near Maldon and the footpaths officer said we were an 'old salt road' which I thought was interesting, and would like to know more.

davidmcn

Beenie wrote: »

Badger, how do we do a FOI request?

Nothing special, you just ask the council the question. But I'm not sure why you ought to be doing the running around on this - you're paying your solicitor to sort out this kind of stuff for you.

Badger50

Beenie wrote: »

Badger, how do we do a FOI request? Our house is situated on a public footpath/bridleway that existed long before the formation of LAs and we were told it has never been adopted. I would like to know the history of it though - we are near Maldon and the footpaths officer said we were an 'old salt road' which I thought was interesting, and would like to know more.

A FOI request needs to be in writing - can be email or letter. It is useful to say it is a FOI request.
Give your name and address and a detailed description of the information you want.. That's it.

For your enquiry though the local library or record office might have the kind of historical information you are interested in - old maps etc (A FOI request wouldn't be appropriate for them as their information is already publicly accessible).

Badger50

But I'm not sure why you ought to be doing the running around on this - you're paying your solicitor to sort out this kind of stuff for you.

No solicitor I've ever used would drill down into that much detail for his fixed fee. Send search form to LA. Get it back. Show it to client. Job done .

EachPenny

Badger50 wrote: »

A FOI request needs to be in writing - can be email or letter. It is useful to say it is a FOI request.
Give your name and address and a detailed description of the information you want.. That's it.

For your enquiry though the local library or record office might have the kind of historical information you are interested in - old maps etc (A FOI request wouldn't be appropriate for them as their information is already publicly accessible).

I don't think it is worth bothering with a FOI in this situation - just go the the local history service and find out what if anything they have.

Making a FOI request to the council for an unadopted (ancient) road will probably result in no more than an extract from the rights of way register (which is often published already, so perhaps not) and probably some correspondence with people concerned about use of the road for inappropriate activities.

Beenie

Thanks everyone. We have lived here peacefully for 20 years, and have no intention of moving. There are owls, hedgehogs, the occasional badger, deer and birdsong every morning. We are also only 35 mins on the train to London. I'm interested in the ancient road aspect, nothing more, and there is certainly no need for a solicitor to be involved.

davidmcn

Beenie wrote: »

there is certainly no need for a solicitor to be involved.

Sorry, didn't realise you weren't the OP and were raising a different query.