Alleged public Rights of Way applications & Permissive Paths

An application can be made to the surveying authority, in our case Surrey County Council, to allege a right of way may exist over a piece of land (Map modification application), whether owned privately or publicly.

One such application has been made regarding a path running from the top of the Smugglers Way byway eastwards to Crooksbury common. The application has been made alleging the path should be made a public bridleway. The path is alleged by the applicant to have been in use for some 60 or so years and has submitted user evidence to support his claim. Application submitted on 5th May 2020 here.

The landowner made a Highways Act and Commons Act deposits application in October 2019 which sets out the land owned and any public rights of way over it. An application of this type is common with landowners and some local examples are: Hampton Estate, RSPB and Surrey County Council all of which allow permissive access to their land. Applications are required every 20 years according to law if it is to be kept up to date. A register of these statements can be found here and it shows many applications of this type are made.

A landowner who allows permissive paths, permitted paths, permitted bridleways or any access across their land can: (not exhaustive) modify the route or access, can impose restrictions on how (ie footpath, bridleway, no dogs etc.)and when (ie daylight hours only) it can be used or close the path entirely without any notice to anyone - it is their land afterall. No statutory rights are given or implied in doing so.

Currently Surrey County Council have a backlog of Map Modification applications and the Parish Council has been advised that if there are objections this application may take 4-5 years to come to a conclusion for either an order be raised for it to be made a right of way or not.

Once an application has been made the surveying authority has a duty towards ‘the discovery of evidence’ under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to continue with the process even if the applicant withdraws the application.

Users of permissive paths should acknowledge landowner’s generosity in allowing the public to access their land.