in short our puppy (which was on a lead) was attacked by another dog while we walked on a public footpath through a farm. There was a sign up at the entrance of the farm saying "public footpath for people only. Duse the number of thefts there are dogs loose.
I reported it to the police but they were not interested. Their take was;

1. rural public footpaths afre for people and not for dogs
2. dog on dog attackes are not a criminal act but could result in a civil action.

I thought that if you are on a public right of way the dog is an accepted accompaniment within the limitations of the route.
Also the signage indicates that there are guard dogs which under the 1975 guard dog act means that they must be chained and/or fenced from areas where the public have access.

any thoughts how I can take this forward as it is a local walk which we would like to continue using although if the dogs remain loose we probably wont bother – probably playing into the farmes hand

Our puppyh was ok and doesn't seem to have suffered any affects

You could try your local RoW officer

nickjb, you are right and I should have said that I have but not heard back yet
i was suprised at the attitude of the police

Maybe not the solution you're after, but if you want to continue using the walk, you might want to try a can of pet corrector spray. I've used it to stop fights/scuffles between Rottweilers, GSD's and a rather large Malamute.

If nothing else, it will keep the other dog away from you.

there is a possible offence of allowing a dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place.however it was dog on dog and case law suggests that dogs will fight other dogs or chase small animals like cats etc.
saying that if the dog wasnt on a lead the owner wasnt in control of it and its a case of whether it was out of control it doesnt have to bite to be dangerous.
the cps are not keen on cases like this and are not likely to run them.the police should still have spoken to the owner.as for dogs on foot paths i am not familiar if they are allowed i presume so.
any guard dogs do have to be either chained or in control of someone and there must be signs as you rightfuly said.

doesnt sound like they were guard dogs,

doesnt sound like puppy was hurt

MTFU or walk somewhere else.

When you say the puppy was attacked, what actually happend how come the puppy didnt get hurt? Most adult dogs will not attack a puppy, just give it a bit of a growling. Next time take a big stick and club any dog that comes near, then find the owner and club him. Failing that tell the police it went for you not the puppy.

Legin: Right of way isn't the same thing as a public place… If this was on someone's property (like it sounds) then that doesn't apply…

The dog must be in control in a public place – and anywhere that the public has access to is a public place. A right of way even thru a farmyard is a public place

Until the dog bite a human or scares a human it is not a criminal offence – but once they are bitten or scared then it is.

Report to the police as a dangerously out of control dog and insist that it is taken seriously

Wow Mr. Jeremy… It must be really inconvenient to be ill-informed, incorrect and ignorant… I'd imagine that makes someone pretty irritable…