Public Rights of Way – Legal Guidance & Practical Tips ~ Griffmonsters Great Walks

Legal Guidance

Public rights of way (PROWs) in England and Wales are legally protected routes that the public may use for walking, riding, or cycling, depending on the path type. The main legislation governing PROWs is the Highways Act 1980, which makes it a criminal offence under Section 137 to willfully obstruct a highway, including footpaths and bridleways. Section 130A, as inserted by the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, empowers local highway authorities to remove unlawful obstructions and to maintain paths in a state fit for public use. Landowners are required to ensure that crops, vegetation, or structures do not encroach on the path or reduce its legally defined width (Highways Act 1980, Ss 143–147). These laws collectively guarantee the public’s right to pass and repass along PROWs while placing clear responsibilities on landowners and authorities to prevent and remove hazards or obstructions.

Paths crossing farmland or areas prone to mud and water must remain passable. Landowners are legally required to restore cross-field paths to their minimum width after ploughing or crop growth, and to ensure vegetation or structures do not obstruct the route. While minor detours around mud, standing water, or temporary vehicle ruts are generally acceptable to protect the path and your safety, the public does not have a right to permanently leave the designated path. Users should take care when deviating and return to the official route as soon as practicable. Local highway authorities can intervene if a path becomes unsafe or permanently obstructed, ensuring that PROWs remain safe and accessible for everyone.

Practical Tips for Walkers

Stay on the designated path whenever possible — your legal right is to use the official route.
Detour safely around mud, standing water, or temporary ruts, but return to the path as soon as possible.
Report obstructions (fallen trees, locked gates, dumped materials) to your local highway authority.
Respect landowners’ property — do not take shortcuts across fields except where necessary to avoid hazard.
Take care in ploughed fields — avoid damaging crops and follow the restored path after ploughing.
Watch for overgrown vegetation — wear appropriate clothing and consider walking sticks for balance on slippery or uneven sections.
Keep safety in mind — do not attempt to cross dangerous structures, flooded areas, or unstable stiles; report these immediately.

Dealing With Muddy, Rutted, Ploughed, or Otherwise Hazardous Ground

Public rights of way must remain open, usable, and safe for all walkers. Mud, deep ruts, slurry, waterlogged ground, and ploughed surfaces can all hinder access and, in some cases, amount to an unlawful obstruction. This section explains walkers’ rights, landowners’ responsibilities, and what to do when ground conditions make a path difficult or dangerous.

Understanding Responsibilities

Highway Authority Duties

Under the Highways Act 1980 (s.41 and s.130), the local highway authority must keep the surface of public paths in a condition suitable for ordinary public use. Although countryside paths naturally vary with the seasons, they must remain reasonably passable. If the surface becomes hazardous through natural wear or weather, the authority retains responsibility for ensuring the route remains usable.

Landowner and Occupier Duties

Landowners must not obstruct or interfere with any public right of way. When hazardous ground is the result of the occupier’s own actions, they may be directly responsible for remediation. Examples include:

Ruts and surface damage caused by machinery
Slurry or deep poaching around gateways or barns
Unreinstated or poorly reinstated ploughed soil
Obstructive crop growth
Altered drainage creating deep or persistent mud

Duties arise under sections 134, 137, and 137A of the Highways Act 1980, as well as general principles of public nuisance.

When Mud or Ground Damage Constitutes an Obstruction

A condition becomes an obstruction when walkers cannot pass safely or without unreasonable difficulty. Obstructions are not limited to physical barriers; a “state of affairs” such as deep mud, slurry, or dangerous ruts may also be unlawful.

Common examples of actionable obstructions include:

Tractor ruts too deep to walk through safely
Hazardous slurry or mud at gateways
Waterlogged depressions caused by poor land management
Rutted field-edges where reinstatement has failed
Crop or ploughing operations that leave no usable path

Natural or minor surface muddiness typically does not qualify, but significant hazards do.

Ploughed Fields and Reinstatement Requirements

Public rights of way across arable land may be ploughed only where it is not reasonably convenient to avoid doing so. When a right of way is disturbed by cultivation, the law requires prompt reinstatement.

Under Highways Act 1980, s.134:

Where a cross-field path is ploughed, the landowner must reinstate it within 14 days of the initial disturbance.
If the surface is subsequently disturbed again (e.g., through secondary cultivation), it must be reinstated within 24 hours.
The reinstated path must be reasonably safe and convenient for walkers and clearly visible on the ground.
It must be of a minimum width: generally 1 metre for a footpath and 2 metres for a bridleway, unless the definitive statement gives wider dimensions.

Failure to reinstate a ploughed path is both an obstruction and an offence. Walkers should report unreinstated routes to the highway authority promptly, especially where the ground has been left deeply furrowed, slippery, or hazardous to cross.

Your Right to Make a Reasonable Deviation

When a path is unsafe or obstructed—whether by mud, slurry, ruts, waterlogging, or an unreinstated ploughed surface—walkers have the right to make a reasonable deviation onto adjacent land. This is a right of necessity supported by long-standing case law (Harvey v Truro RDC (1903); Hind v Linden (1943)).

A reasonable deviation should:

Be only as long and as wide as required to bypass the obstruction
Stay close to the legal line of the route
Return to the right of way as soon as it is safe to do so

This ensures walkers are not forced into unsafe conditions and preserves continuity of travel where the official line cannot be used.

Reporting Problems

When hazardous ground or an unreinstated ploughed field is encountered:

Record the issue
Photographs, grid references, and descriptions of the hazard help the highway authority assess the situation.
Report it to the highway authority
Explain whether the condition appears related to ploughing, machinery, livestock, drainage, or other land use.
Escalate if necessary
If no progress is made, the formal Section 130A procedure allows members of the public to require the authority to deal with obstructions.

Timely reporting helps maintain safe, accessible routes for all walkers and supports good agricultural practice.

Summary of Key Rights and Responsibilities

Highway authorities must keep public rights of way reasonably passable.
Landowners must reinstate ploughed paths and avoid creating hazardous surfaces.
Severe mud, ruts, slurry, or unreinstated cultivation may constitute unlawful obstruction.
Walkers may make a short, necessary deviation to bypass unsafe conditions.
Serious or ongoing issues should be reported and, if required, formally challenged.