Planning Permission, Heights of Fences, and Public Rights of Way

[Ferdinand]

A question which may get nerdy so I have put it here.

It is common for a garden adjoining a road (ie a public highway) to have a minimum public fence height of 1m, unless planning permission exists for a higher fence - or eg a hedge is used.

What is the position with respect to a Public Footpath, a Bridleway etc, which are also public highways in law? And what is the position in civil law wrt fence heights next to RoWs such as public footpaths?

(There are wrinkles around the edge of this, such as new paths created on estates or otherwise by Councils not being initially dedicated as RoWs, and so being permissive paths of various types, but I'm interested in anything that anyone knows or thinks.)

The piccie below is an example of a "squeeze" between housing and countryside. The underlying issue here imo is the rural landowner being an antisocial twunt - the width of these are not often specified, and he has taken for himself everything he thinks he can get away with, turning the experience of the public into a miserable one.



This is the "success" to which it is compared. 



This is the source doc from the Open Spaces Society, the people who deal with Village Greens and Common Land, and PRoWs, which started my train of thought:

https://www.oss.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Getting-decent-widths-in-path-diversion-orders.pdf

Thanks

Ferdinand

 

[SteamyTea]

I am sure you have seen this, about the width.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-rights-of-way-landowner-responsibilities

 

No idea about height on the boundary, some buildings are the boundary, and after quite tall.

 

Took this yesterday.

Not much more than a metre wide in places.

 

Edited Sunday at 15:03 by SteamyTea

[ProDave]

If you are a regular hill or mountain walker you will know there is no such thing as a minimum width for a public footpath.

 

What is your "failure" footpath used for?  I doubt it if for the home owners to get access to their back gardens.  More likely for walkers to gain access to / from somewhere in the countryside.

 

The only "complaint" you might have is if the actual right of way shown on the definitive map is further to the left in that picture, then he won't have just made it narrower, he will have diverted it to a different location.  That they could take action against.

[Temp]

4 hours ago, Ferdinand said:

What is the position with respect to a Public Footpath, a Bridleway etc, which are also public highways in law? And what is the position in civil law wrt fence heights next to RoWs such as public footpaths?

 

I was told they all count as highways so fences over 1m need planning permission.

 

I think that was the problem with this story last week...

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14801729/We-bought-land-homes-erected-6ft-fence-yobs-snobby-neighbours-complained-council.html

 

 

Edited Sunday at 17:28 by Temp