Wiltshire Council has come under fire regarding its backlog of over 360 applications to modify public right of way maps after an applicant has said he is unsure he will see them resolved before he dies.

Correspondence between the Planning Inspectorate and the applicant, Chas Townley, has revealed that some applications submitted to Wiltshire Council have been pending for over 20 years.

Mr Townley is a Parish Councillor in Gloucestershire and describes himself as passionate about public rights of way and public access to the countryside.

A year after making an application requesting that Wiltshire Council officially recognise and add two new footpaths near Latton to existing maps, he was told it could take up to 15 years due to the application’s position on the list of pending requests.

The council does not consider there is sufficient public advantage to prioritising the application over other routes given there are similar opportunities to walk in the same direction.

However, Mr Townley believes this system needs to change.

He said: “Rights of way are vital to give public access to green spaces and the wider countryside, sadly throughout England many thousands of miles of paths are missing from the official records known as definitive maps.

“Excessive delays in adding unrecorded routes to the definitive map, as shown by the Inspector’s decision, are completely unjustified, and Wiltshire Council needs to mend its ways and provide a more effective and efficient service.

“The unfortunate fact of life is I’m working on these applications in my mid 60s, I would like to see them recorded and opened to the public before I die.”

At Mr Townley’s request, an inspector from the Planning Inspectorate was appointed to review the situation.

The inspector noted: “The prioritisation system appears to be a reasonable approach to dealing with the large backlog of applications.

“However, sufficient resources should be in place to determine applications within a finite and reasonable period.”

The inspector concluded that it would be “unreasonable for the applicant to wait at least another ten years” and directed Wiltshire Council to make a decision in the next six months, before the end of the year.

Cllr Nick Holder, cabinet member for highways said, "We do have a backlog in processing rights of way applications, but this is not unusual among rural authorities, and many around the country have similar backlogs.

"Changing or modifying a single right of way is an extremely comprehensive and thorough process that takes many months of historical investigation and work to produce reports that can be 80 pages long.

"We will continue to do all we can to process applications to change rights of way as soon as we can.”