My parents live in a small hamlet. The roads are just small connected streets/lanes. Some of the recent residents seem to think it’s OK to block off or extend their gardens.

What pissed me off is that my dad said “They don’t like you walking down that way”. After I followed my natural childhood route to the garden/woods/hills. 👿

Surely they are blocking access to emergency services as well as others.

Hmm, unadopted roads is a complex area, far too complex to fill on a post here. There may well be a right of way existing but unrecorded

This briefing paper is pretty extensive

ninfan – Member

Hmm, unadopted roads is a complex area, far too complex to fill on a post here. There may well be a right of way existing but unrecorded

This briefing paper is pretty extensive

That has never stopped anyone before. 😡

plenty of green laners on here but where’s one when you need one 😀

i might be a bit out in my nomenclature but i would suspect some may simply be unmade unclassified roads – these often appear on OS maps as “white roads”and in the countryside will often have “private rd” signs to keep the oiks out – whilst you actually have a higher right of access than footpaths or bridleways – last time there was a rights of way review around the north sheffield area it was interesting to see how many of these were being claimed as private access roads

if its not online get down to the council offices and look at the definitive map

mind you doesn’t stop people doing stuff and ROW Officers are a declining species as is the ability to claim old rights of way

assuming england there is also a process for claiming a right of way but you’ll need your mates from childhood to fill in a claim as well
had one near us where horsey guy got fed up with motorcyclists and shut off a route people had been using for many many years – still hard to find people to rock the boat though – “after all it might actually be their land”

Just because there is a track doesn’t mean a right of way exists even to houses further down the track. There may be something in the deeds of the houses but that isn’t a given.

I live on an unadopted road and the note from Ninfan sets it out. Basically my road has been public access since the houses were built, so its a defacto public highway albeit privately owned. But in our case it is clearly a road and the only access. In fact we actually have a responsibility to maintain our bit of the road and Council could force us to make repairs it it becomes unusable.

Re ROW

find the Definitive map for the area – should be on your council web site somewhere(and major public libraries) – that will clarify what actual access is in terms of ROW ‘over’ the roads. Our unadopted road is private – with access to only residents.

Re Definitive council maps as an eg: https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/content/definitive-map-and-statement-online

Also see: http://www.rowmaps.com/ – a quicker version

As ninfan said, unadopted roads are a complicated subject, and TBF depending on the question I may not be particularly useful.

So OP; is the route in question definitely an public highway but being obstructed / encroached upon, or is it a private track but has a Public Right of Way along it, or is it a private track with no public access but people use it anyway?

Your Authority will have an online map (which might save you a trip) possibly with both ‘PROW’ and ‘adopted roads’ layers to double-check.

[edit]

towzer beat me to it. And of course it could be a private track, no public access, but some people may have rights to use it.

Our road is just marked as a road on the definitive map, not a specific row.

i think the assumption in definitive maps is that a road is a public road unless marked as a private road

the unadopted bit can be a as said very complex but just because a road was never adopted to be maintained by the local authority doesn’t mean it isn’t a public road (as above) – many people choose to claim unadopted roads as private because that is the way they look – because they are roads there is no legal requirement for footpath/bridleway signs so they don’t invite access

Council maps will tell you. Should might be a better word as these maps are not always accurate. For example a piece of land may not be registered.
Highways will tell you if it’s a road of some sort. UCR maybe. If that draws a blank wander of to the RoW dept as they may have it recorded as a byway.
Both byway and UCR generally have vehicular access rights ( specific exceptions can always apply in this minefield.)

If it’s been used regularly over a long period and connects two public places then you can very likely claim it as a PROW even if it isn’t yet on any definitive map. If if only connects to a private place at one end (eg someone’s house) then it might not be (but might be a private right of way).