Who owns a public footpath?

AdrianC

Beenie said:

Adrian, it doesn't matter what you think the width of the public footpath is (and you're wrong anyway - it's 2.5 metres wide). The council know it's a PROW and no-one has the right to plant trees. Its called encroachment. 

Well, let's just have another look at that pic, in a bit more detail...

All I've done here is copied and pasted it to an image editor, crop it to the relevant bit, then add a couple of marks.

Yes, the flat section probably is about 3m from red mark to red mark. But how much further back are the trunks?
Where was the edge of the flat roadway surface before the new fence was dug in?
What was there before?

FWIW, and as a frame of reference... The public road past my house is 2.9m (I've measured it), tarmac width, with steep banks either side. Yours definitely looks narrower.

Beenie

I am not stressing about this. My original question was how do we establish who owns a PROW - and the answers are many and varied. I have found this thread interesting and informative, and I hope others have too. It would still be useful if the  Land Registry person could turn up and say something like "in my experience this is the likely situation or that is what we normally find, etc."

Beenie

The gate is a new addition (last two months) and the posts were erected by a previous owner without permission according to another neighbour who has lived here for over 44 years.

AdrianC

Beenie said:

My original question was how do we establish who owns a PROW - and the answers are many and varied.

The answer is simple and singular. The landowner.

You simply don't know who that is, because it's unregistered.

Oh, and it's not a Public RoW... Not for vehicles. Not for horses or bicycles. It's a public footpath. For pedestrians.
The relevant RoW here, the vehicular RoW, is a PRIVATE one, by agreement between a previous owner of your plot and the landowner of the RoW, enshrined in your property title and your neighbour's.

Beenie

Sorry, you're right about the PROW. I should have said public footpath. We have a village map of all the footpaths in the area, there are about 20 of them, and they're all numbered. The parish council are showing interest and have passed it for clarification to the Rights of Way/Footpath chap at the council.

Edit: I actually did refer to it as a public footpath and not a PROW in the thread title.

moneysavinghero

AdrianC said:

Beenie said:

My original question was how do we establish who owns a PROW - and the answers are many and varied.

The answer is simple and singular. The landowner.

You simply don't know who that is, because it's unregistered.

Oh, and it's not a Public RoW... Not for vehicles. Not for horses or bicycles. It's a public footpath. For pedestrians.
The relevant RoW here, the vehicular RoW, is a PRIVATE one, by agreement between a previous owner of your plot and the landowner of the RoW, enshrined in your property title and your neighbour's.

Not quite so simple and not quite so singular.
The surface and so much of the soil below and the air above as is necessary for the control, protection and maintenance of the highway is owned the by highways authority. The rest is owned by the landowner.

Section62

Beenie said:

I am not stressing about this. My original question was how do we establish who owns a PROW - and the answers are many and varied. I have found this thread interesting and informative, and I hope others have too. It would still be useful if the  Land Registry person could turn up and say something like "in my experience this is the likely situation or that is what we normally find, etc."

That would be a bit of a waste of the Land Registry person's time really.

The land owner of a public footpath - as Adrian says - is the landowner.

In the vast majority of cases that will be the person(s) who owns the land either (or both) side(s) of the path. Sometimes the path is on land owned by A N Other, which in some cases might be a local authority (not necessarily the highway authority).

If your solicitor 20 years ago couldn't find the answer then it is very unlikely anyone will be able to tell you now. The answer will be one (or both) of the people either side of the track, or a person unknown.

AdrianC

moneysavinghero said:

AdrianC said:

Beenie said:

My original question was how do we establish who owns a PROW - and the answers are many and varied.

The answer is simple and singular. The landowner.

You simply don't know who that is, because it's unregistered.

Oh, and it's not a Public RoW... Not for vehicles. Not for horses or bicycles. It's a public footpath. For pedestrians.
The relevant RoW here, the vehicular RoW, is a PRIVATE one, by agreement between a previous owner of your plot and the landowner of the RoW, enshrined in your property title and your neighbour's.

Not quite so simple and not quite so singular.
The surface and so much of the soil below and the air above as is necessary for the control, protection and maintenance of the highway is owned the by highways authority. The rest is owned by the landowner.

This isn't an adopted public highway.

I have a public footpath going through my back garden, right past my back door. The local authority's only responsibility is maintaining finger posts at the point at which the footpath leaves the public highway. Everything else is my responsibility. At the narrowest point, where it leaves the road, it goes up two large steps (which I've cut, it was just a steep slope) and through a gap that I've widened from barely-squeezable...

That land is 100% owned by me, from the topsoil to the earth's core, as freeholder.

Beenie

If a path runs through your land, then I agree it's clearer than my situation. The path does not cross anyone's land, it runs between houses and their gardens. I have drawn a little map (not great) which shows the lay of the land. The path is wide enough for a car (or cart which I suspect it was used for originally) to get to the gate leading to a field. The field was originally church glebe land, but now privately owned. Maybe the new glebe land owner is responsible for the lane? 

sheramber

Was the land the houses are built on originally glebe land?