Wiltshire Council struggles with 'challenging' landowners

Officers often struggle with “challenging” landowners across the county when it comes to public rights of way issues, according to the head of local highways and countryside access.

The issue was discussed at the latest environment select committee meeting, during which attendees were presented with a report on the maintenance and management of public footpaths in Wiltshire.

READ MORE: Wiltshire Council criticised for right of way applications backlog

Wiltshire Council's environment select committee. (Image: Wiltshire Council)This comes after the council has faced criticism for its backlog of more than 360 applications to modify public right of way maps.

Chris Clark, head of local highways and countryside access, reminded the committee that the issue is reflected nationally and was is unique to the 3,700 miles of public rights of way in Wiltshire.

He said that although the council is considering how it could “streamline the process”, he doubted that, without an intervention from national government and a change of approach, it could “progress much quicker”.

SEE ALSO: Group calls out Wiltshire Council's management of byways

Nevertheless, he went on to explain that a large part of the workload facing officers involved chasing up landowners.

He said: “Many landowners are very cognizant of what they need to do and fulfil their duty.

“However, there are landowners that are really quite challenging and that takes up an immense amount of time for officers to go out, inspect, serve notice, and then re-inspect to find it hasn’t been undertaken.”

The responsibility of maintaining public rights of way is shared between Wiltshire Council and the landowner where the path exists.

Obstructing a public right of way is a criminal offence and the highway authority has the right to demand landowners remove obstructions.

Wiltshire Council’s responsibilities include making sure public rights of way are free from obstructions, clearing the vegetation growing from the surface of the path, signposting rights of way, maintain bridges and providing at least a 25 per cent contribution towards the landowner’s stiles and gates costs.

Recently, the Open Spaces Society criticised the council for how it deals with "disgraceful blockages" on the county’s byways.

Wiltshire Council has maintained that it is committed to responsibly managing the network.

Cllr Nick Holder, cabinet member for highways, stated: “We value maintaining positive relationships with landowners to address concerns where it is not necessary to instigate a drawn out legal process as this is often the best way to ensure the best possible outcome for byway users.

“However, we do use the legal processes available to us where necessary.”