Countryside Access Charging Policy - Public Path Furniture

Section 1 - Summary

Responsibility for protecting Public Rights of Way (PROW) and maintaining their surface lies with the Local Authority as the relevant highway authority. However, the provision and maintenance of furniture along public rights of way, such as stiles, kissing gates and bridle gates is not a highway authority duty, it is the responsibility of the landowner.

Since the appointment of the Countryside Rangers in 2003, and to a lesser extent before then, Carmarthenshire’s Countryside Access team have funded the supply and installation of furniture across the network on behalf of the landowner in almost all cases.

As a result of supplying and installing furniture at no cost to the landowner, resistance to PROW maintenance and improvements from landowners has been minimal, this has led to fewer cases of formal enforcement.
Available funding, particularly the Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP) grant, allowed the service to meet the costs associated with this way of working. Unfortunately, the ROWIP grant has now ceased and the financial outlook continues to be challenging, the service is therefore unable to continue with the current approach to the supply and installation of furniture.

This policy sets out how the service intends to revise its way of working in relation to furniture supply and installation, providing a clear and consistent set of rules, whilst taking account of our statutory responsibilities.