2026 and all that ….

Countryside & Rights of Way Act (CROW, 2000)

Guardian article : December 2015

On 1 January 2026 the legal map of rights of way (the ‘definitive’ map) held by the county council will be closed to claims for paths that existed before 1949. Such paths will be legally closed (‘extinguished’).
Well-used, unrecorded footpaths which are not designated rights of way may be lost.

Although this seems some way off, the process of recording footpaths as rights of way is both bureaucratic and protracted.
The County Council are legally committed to processing claims for rights of way, but (especially in view of severe budget reductions) are unlikely to instigate them.

How to claim an unrecorded right of way

The link to the maps below show current rights of way (in bold colours) for all 42 ‘parish’ categories defined by the County Council in the north-east of the county (Bolsover, Chesterfield, & NE Derbyshire).

	Area*		Area*
Ashover	NED	Holymoorside & Walton	NED
Ault Hucknall	B	Killamarsh	NED
Barlborough	B	Morton	NED
Barlow	NED	North Wingfield	NED
Blackwell	B	Pilsley	NED
Bolsover	B	Pinxton	B
Brackenfield	NED	Pleasley	B
Brampton	NED	Scarcliffe	B
Brimington	C	Shirebrook	B
Calow	NED	Shirland & Higham	NED
Chesterfield	C	South Normanton	B
Clay Cross	NED	Staveley	C
Clowne	B	Stretton	NED
Dronfield	NED	Sutton cum Duckmanton	NED
Eckington	NED	Temple Normanton	NED
Elmton	B	Tibshelf	B
Glapwell	B	Tupton	NED
Grassmoor	NED	Unstone	NED
Heath & Holmewood	NED	Wessington	NED
Hodthorpe & Belph	B	Whitwell	B
Holmesfield	NED	Wingerworth	NED