Shape the future of Staffordshire

Your chance to shape the future of Staffordshire's rights of way network

HAVE YOUR SAY and TAKE PART IN OUR LATEST CONSULTATION

Why are we consulting with you?

The county council is encouraging organisations and individuals who are passionate about rights of way to take part in a consultation.

Our stunning rural county boasts 4,500km of public footpaths and bridleways, enjoyed by thousands of people every year. Staffordshire County Council is responsible for working with landowners and others to keep these public rights of way open, safe and appealing for people to use and enjoy.

As the county council’s income reduces but demand for services such as adult social care continues to increase, we need to find savings and new ways of working in everything we do.We are therefore proposing new standards for how we will work with the community to maintain these important community assets into the future.

These standards centre on the principle of introducing a formal system for how our small in-house team maintains and inspects rights of way, and how it responds to the thousands of reports for help and information we receive every year.

By introducing a system whereby every right of way is categorised as A, B or C, the county council can focus the majority of its money and activity on the most used and valued paths, whilst continuing to meet its statutory responsibilities across the whole network.

Proposals include:

how each right of way is categorised - indicating where we think we should focus the majority of our resources, and where local people could get more involved. We are welcoming any local insight or intelligence that could help to finalise how rights of way are categorised.a new online system to keep people informed about any reports they make.an enhanced volunteer programme to help more people get involved - we want to hear people's thoughts about what the priorities for council-supported volunteer programmes should be.

More detailed information about the proposals, an interactive map showing the proposed path categorisation and an online questionnaire is available at www.staffordshire.gov.uk/rightsofwayreview for anyone that wants to have their say. 

Any questions or comments can also be sent to rightsofwayreview@staffordshire.gov.uk