Darlington Borough Council's Responsibilities

Our responsibilities:

Maintaining bridges over natural watercourses
Signposting and, where appropriate, waymarking of footpaths, bridleways and byways
Administering the law concerning Rights of Way and, in particular, ensuring that the public can use them
Making grants to farmers or landowners of at least a quarter of the cost of maintaining approved stiles and bridle gates
The updating and continuous review of Public Rights of Way on the Definitive Map and Statement. This map may be inspected at the Town Hall or at the Central Library. Copies are supplied to Parish Councils
Maintaining and controlling natural vegetation on the surface of footpaths and bridleways. In practice, few field paths receive routine maintenance and walkers should be prepared to use boots or appropriate footwear

The Definitive Map, which is the official record of Public Rights of Way, was first compiled from local knowledge often provided by Parish Councils. Each path on the Definitive Map is numbered and is specific to its Parish.

Ordnance Survey (OS) maps detailed enough to show Public Rights of Way derive their information from the Definitive Map. The most useful OS maps for countryside recreation purposes are the 1:25,000 “Explorer” series, which shows Public Rights of Way with green dashed lines. The 1:50,000 “Landranger” maps show Public Rights of Way with pink dashed lines.

OS maps cannot show changes that have occurred after they have been published. The only up to date source of information is the Definitive Map itself, which is held in the Borough Solicitor's Department at Town Hall.

The Parish Council should also have a copy of its local network of paths, which is usually kept by the Parish Clerk.

For your information:

There is an ancient Common Law right to pass and re-pass along the highways at all times.
Footpaths, bridleways and byways are highways. They only differ from other forms of highway such as roads, by the type of traffic entitled to use them.
Lack of use has no effect on the legal existence of a right of way.
The Definitive Map kept by the Borough Council sometimes specifies the width of a path, but where this is not so, the assumption is that a footpath crossing open ground or fields should have a width sufficient for two walkers to pass in comfort.
A bridleway across open land should allow one horse to pass another horse safely.
On restricted byways or 'byways', the accepted width is normally the feature that exists on the ground.
It is illegal to put plain, barbed, or electrified wire across a Right of Way.
It is not illegal to run wire along the side of a Right of Way unless it is dangerous or inconvenient to a person using the way.
Byways or field edge Footpaths and Bridleways must not be ploughed under any circumstances.
Landowners and farmers may shoot on their land, but not in such a way as to endanger the public using a Right of Way.
You must leave land to which you have no legal right of access, if asked to do so by the owner or his representative.

For further details and advice relating to any public path matter visit the Frequently Asked Questions pages or alternatively contact us at:

Countryside Team
Darlington Borough Council
The Beehive
Lingfield Point
Darlington
DL1 1YN

Telephone: (01325) 388643

Email: countryside@darlington.gov.uk