RIGHTS OF WAY
SIR,—" Parish Councilor" complains of the unnecessary burden which is being imposed by the memorandum "Surveys and Maps of Public Rights of Way" upon parish councils which are engaged in the Survey. He compares the simplicity of the Act, which "merely requires the marking of paths reasonably alleged to be public rights of way," with the complexity and elaborate detail of the memorandum. Has he considered that the apparent simplicity of the Act is chiefly due to its saying nothing about all the details which a parish council may have to investigate before deciding whether to mark a particular path on the map or not. A parish council.must, of course, consider each path separately before deciding whether or not to mark it as public on the map. In many instances decision will be easy ; the path is. generally recognised as being either indisputably public or indisputably private. In others there will be a doubt. Some people think that it is public ; others that it is not. Perhaps the owner disputes it, or has sometimes been obstructed in the past or is obstructed now. This doubt must be re- solved, but how ? The Act does not tell us, but the memorandum does, since it sets out the Various possible grounds on which a path can be "reasonably alleged" to be public, whether it be evidence of public use, an inclosure award, repair by the parish council or what not. Its object is to help'parish councils and others who are engaged in the survey to reach right decisions, and the fact that local authorities all over the country, after seeing the official copies of the memorandum, have already asked for some 15,000 more—and orders are still flowing in-- is some indication that it is succeeding in that object.
" Parish Councillor" suggests that parish councils should merely be supplied with the relevant sections of the Act, and that in marking the maps they should" follow their own common sense, marking only those paths which are in use and omitting the rest." Does he realise that if they follow this advice they will (leaving aside the memorandum) be neglecting their duty under the Act itself, which is to mark all public paths, whether they are in use at the moment or not ? As to the details of the condition of paths and their stiles, bridges, etc. (which county councils, to different extents, are asking parish councils to supply) your correspondent is no doubt aware that section 47 of the Act imposes on highway authorities a liability to keep public piths in order, and the information asked for will help them in this task.
If "Parish Councillor" is not too busy, the "men of leisure . . . . with nothing particular to do" who drew up the memorandum would be delighted to see him at this office and give him some idea of the work that is going on there and all over the country—even at week-ends—.
(Secretary, Commons, Open Spaces and Foot- paths Preservation Society).
71 Eccleston Square, Belgrave Road, Westminster, S.W .1.
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