Footpaths
The Ramblers are involved, not just in walking, but in maintaining and developing our rights of way.
In Derbyshire alone there are over 3000 miles
(of which 619 are in our group area) and we have a small group of volunteers who assist the County Council in this.
If you would like to be involved, please let us know.
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You’ll be very welcome to join our footpath maintenance team – or help the Group in any other way.
As a volunteer you are right at the heart of our work to promote walking whilst protecting and improving the places people walk.
Tell us about a path success
Good countryside access depends on reporting all rights of way problems.
Don’t assume they have already been reported.
Take a photo if you can and report either by;
Pathwatch, Derbyshire County Council, Fix My Street, or by this website.
During the month of December 2020, 17 reports of problems relating to footpaths were drawn to the attention of Derbyshire County Council and recorded by our Footpath Secretary. It should be appreciated that individual members will have made independent reports. During this same period 15 problems were marked as complete or action agreed.
We are currently concentrating on a ‘Ploughing and Cropping’ campaign and seeking to monitor the significant problems this gives walkers when meeting blockages or trying to negotiate the line of a right of way.
It is an area where, because problems are relatively temporary, the County Council wrongly gives them little importance.
If you meet a problem relating to ploughing or cropping obstructions to legal rights of way please report it to the Ploughing & Cropping Campaign.
All problem reports of any sort are forwarded to the County Council Rights of Way Team.
 Stiles & gates 
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 The Cycle Tracks Act (1984) gave highway authorities the powers to convert a footpath or part of a footpath into ‘a highway over which the public have a right of way on a pedal cycle (other than pedal cycles which are motor vehicles) and a right of way on foot’. The problem arises however that rights of way can be extinguished to allow this to happen and are automatically removed from the Definitive Map and thereby Ordnance Survey mapping. At a time when we are trying to establish ‘lost ways’ for mapping, we are losing some existing footpaths from Ordnance Survey maps. This cannot be in the interest of either cyclists or walkers, who both need to see their active travel routes clearly mapped ? Unrecorded Rights of Way (Proposal 31) Natural England Stakeholder Report (2010) |
The North Chesterfield Way route
Waymarking Public Rights of Way (Natural England)
Footpath 18 between the English Heritage sites of Bolsover Castle and Sutton Scarsdale Hall
(summer, 2013)
County council guidelines on cropping & ploughing
Although we’re glad many farmers follow the requirement to keep footpaths open for public use, there are unfortunately some who ignore the guidelines.
Free passage is essential at all times, but never more so than during the annual Chesterfield Area Walking Festival in May each year.
The Path Closure Register
Do you check on proposed changes to your
rights of way ?
You can check by parish or postcode on the County Council website.
Peak District Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) Consultations
Private or ‘unadopted’ roads in England & Wales
Understanding the British Standard for Gaps, Stiles, and Gates
Stiles & gates (Derbyshire County Council)
Rights of Way Maps Public Rights of Way (Rowmaps)  Derbyshire Public Rights of Way (Ordnance Survey overlay)  Derbyshire Public Rights of Way (Bing aerial overlay)
 Open Street Map – Recorded and unrecorded paths  Obtain map coordinates  What3Words  Lost ways here ? 1898 map (National Library of Scotland) The way we were …. Local mapping based on National Library of Scotland Ordnance Survey Maps |
Local Councils
(Rights of Way)
 Chesterfield Local Plan |
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Councillors |
| Chesterfield |
| Parish Councils |
| Brimington |
| Staveley |
 Bolsover Local Plan |
| Councillors |
 Derbyshire County Council Rights of Way |
| County Councillors |
 NE Derbyshire Local Plan |
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Councillors |
| Parish Councils |
 Derbyshire Administrative Districts |
