Registration of footpaths

Here’s a notice registering footpaths on Buckhurst Park on the Withyham estate of the 11th Earl de la Warr, Ashdown Forest, East Sussex, for the definitive map under the 2006 Commons Act.

All footpaths need to be registered by 2026 or they will be ‘lost’ and will lost their right of way status.

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000230

Map link: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.0710354,0.1230478,3a,75y,23.33h,96.43t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sOkxnXAUJQC97ZKpkUMvDew!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

google street view of the location:

Here’s a link to the application: https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/leisureandtourism/discover-east-sussex/rightsofway/the-definitive-map-and-statement/register-of-deposits-made-by-landowners/withyham-estate

https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/media/11185/withyham-estate-1st-february-2010-deposit-and-declaration.pdf

In a recent paper for the Changing Landscapes research network, Prof Paul Readman argued that aristocratic landowners have been keen to register definitive footpaths on their estates, not out of benevolent belief in the right to roam, but rather so they can define more easily the routes that people can and more importantly, cannot go. Registering footpaths was therefore a practice of exclusion, as it could be a defensive measure against open access.

See the talk here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T0JIDtmwjCmznghia8zU0h2wONm4Pe5G/view

See https://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/leisureandtourism/discover-east-sussex/rightsofway/the-definitive-map-and-statement/public-rights-of-way-section-31-6-and-commons-section-15a-1-deposits/register-of-deposits/

https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/land-waste-and-housing/public-paths-and-the-countryside/public-rights-of-way/request-a-change-to-a-public-path/keeping-the-definitive-map-up-to-date/

for a list of current applications, challenges and cases.