What are Public Rights of Way?

Public Rights of Way (PROW) allow you to walk, or sometimes ride, cycle or drive, along specific routes over land which belongs to someone else – the land itself is often privately owned.

You have the right to access some land for walking or certain other leisure activities. You can:

  • use public roads and pavements or public rights of way, for example footpaths or bridleways
  • use your right to roam on open access land including mountains, moors, heaths, downs, common land and some land around the England Coast Path

If neither of these apply, you may still be able to access private land if:

  • the land was used as a PROW in the past - check old maps and documents
  • the land was accessed by the public for at least 20 years, and nobody has asked them to stop
  • the landowner has given permission (‘permissive access’)

PROWs are marked with signs or coloured arrows, for example yellow for footpaths, blue for bridleways. You can find the route of a PROW:

To find out more, report a problem or change a PROW, please visit our pages on Kent.gov.uk

Made, Confirmed and Certified Public Path Orders

Changes to the PROW network may only be made by way of a legal order. Depending on the circumstances, the statutory provisions of the Highways Act 1980, Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allow us to follow a procedure to propose changes to create, divert or extinguish a public path.

Once made, an order is advertised by way of a notice which specifies a period and procedure for lodging objections to the proposed changes.

If objections are made, we can refer an order to the Planning Inspectorate for determination. This may be by way of a public inquiry, hearing or written representations.

If an order is unopposed, we may confirm the order. Any change made as a result of a confirmed public path order is recorded on the Definitive Map of Public Rights of Way (the legal document).

Village Green and Common Lands Notices

Common land is owned, for example by a local council, privately or by the National Trust.

You usually have the right to roam on it. This means you can use it for certain activities like walking and climbing. Some common land has different rights, so you may be able to use it for other activities, for example horse-riding.

You cannot:

  • camp on common land without the owner’s permission
  • light a fire or have a barbecue
  • hold a festival or other event without permission
  • drive across it without permission unless you have the right to access your property

You can use town and village greens for sports and recreation, for example playing football or walking your dog. Some also have ‘rights of common’ over them - like grazing livestock. The right to roam does not apply here.

Many greens are owned and maintained by local parish or community councils. Some are privately owned.

An application to register land as a town or village green (TVG) can be made where a significant number of the inhabitants of any locality, or of any neighbourhood within a locality, have indulged as of right in lawful sports and pastimes on the land for a period of at least 20 years and continue to do so at the time of the application.

We maintain the registers of commons and town and village greens. We are not involved in the management of commons or enforcing or protecting rights of common, unless we are also the owners of those commons, or manage them by agreement.

It is possible to apply to the County Council to amend the commons and village green registers. In some cases, a fee will be payable. Your application will need to include evidence to show how the mistake or error was originally made.

You can apply to:

  • remove wrongly registered common land or village greens
  • deregister buildings
  • correct errors

Further information village greens and common land registers and the application process can be found on Kent.gov.uk.

Made and Confirmed Definitive Map Modification Orders

A Definitive Map Modification Order is a legal order which changes the Definitive Map and Statement (DMS). The DMS is a statutory record of public rights of way and anyone has a right to apply for it to be corrected where they believe there is an error or omission.

The decision on whether or not to make such a correction is based purely on the evidence of what public rights exist and it is important to understand that the process is not concerned with issues of management of the ways, desirability of the routes or other such matters. These other concerns may be appropriate and may form part of any subsequent management of a route that is amended or added by an order, but they are not matters that can be considered in determining the Definitive Map Modification Order.

A Definitive Map Modification Order cannot create rights that do not already exist, extinguish rights that do exist nor divert paths onto a preferred route (there are other mechanisms for doing this). It is solely concerned with formally recording the rights that already exist on the ground but are not recorded on the DMS.

We will advertise the order by placing notices at each end of the route affected, in the local press and on this website. There then follows a statutory 42-day consultation period during which anyone can make representations or objections to the order. If any objection is made, and we are unable to resolve them, we must refer the order to the Secretary of State.

Public Inquiries and Hearings

Public inquiries or hearings are held when objections are made to an order, and they are unable to be resolved. The Secretary of State will arrange for the order and the objections to be considered by an independent Inspector, either at a local public inquiry, a hearing, or by exchange of correspondence.

The Inspector will decide whether or not to confirm the order and will only take into account evidence that is relevant to the order. Objectors to the order and also supporters of the order all have a right to be heard in these proceedings. If after considering all the evidence and hearing from the objectors, the Inspector concludes that the claimed rights exist they will confirm that order.

Notice that the order has been confirmed will again be publicised in the press, on this website and with a notice on the route.

Once the order is confirmed the Definitive Map and Statement can be amended to show the affects of the order.

It should also be noted that the Inspector can, if they conclude the evidence to be deficient, decide not to confirm an order; or direct that it is re-advertised with alterations: such as where they conclude that there is reasonable evidence to show that a claimed footpath should be shown as a bridleway, or vice versa.

Public Rights of Way (PROW) allow you to walk, or sometimes ride, cycle or drive, along specific routes over land which belongs to someone else – the land itself is often privately owned.

You have the right to access some land for walking or certain other leisure activities. You can:

  • use public roads and pavements or public rights of way, for example footpaths or bridleways
  • use your right to roam on open access land including mountains, moors, heaths, downs, common land and some land around the England Coast Path

If neither of these apply, you may still be able to access private land if:

  • the land was used as a PROW in the past - check old maps and documents
  • the land was accessed by the public for at least 20 years, and nobody has asked them to stop
  • the landowner has given permission (‘permissive access’)

PROWs are marked with signs or coloured arrows, for example yellow for footpaths, blue for bridleways. You can find the route of a PROW:

To find out more, report a problem or change a PROW, please visit our pages on Kent.gov.uk

Made, Confirmed and Certified Public Path Orders

Changes to the PROW network may only be made by way of a legal order. Depending on the circumstances, the statutory provisions of the Highways Act 1980, Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allow us to follow a procedure to propose changes to create, divert or extinguish a public path.

Once made, an order is advertised by way of a notice which specifies a period and procedure for lodging objections to the proposed changes.

If objections are made, we can refer an order to the Planning Inspectorate for determination. This may be by way of a public inquiry, hearing or written representations.

If an order is unopposed, we may confirm the order. Any change made as a result of a confirmed public path order is recorded on the Definitive Map of Public Rights of Way (the legal document).

Village Green and Common Lands Notices

Common land is owned, for example by a local council, privately or by the National Trust.

You usually have the right to roam on it. This means you can use it for certain activities like walking and climbing. Some common land has different rights, so you may be able to use it for other activities, for example horse-riding.

You cannot:

  • camp on common land without the owner’s permission
  • light a fire or have a barbecue
  • hold a festival or other event without permission
  • drive across it without permission unless you have the right to access your property

You can use town and village greens for sports and recreation, for example playing football or walking your dog. Some also have ‘rights of common’ over them - like grazing livestock. The right to roam does not apply here.

Many greens are owned and maintained by local parish or community councils. Some are privately owned.

An application to register land as a town or village green (TVG) can be made where a significant number of the inhabitants of any locality, or of any neighbourhood within a locality, have indulged as of right in lawful sports and pastimes on the land for a period of at least 20 years and continue to do so at the time of the application.

We maintain the registers of commons and town and village greens. We are not involved in the management of commons or enforcing or protecting rights of common, unless we are also the owners of those commons, or manage them by agreement.

It is possible to apply to the County Council to amend the commons and village green registers. In some cases, a fee will be payable. Your application will need to include evidence to show how the mistake or error was originally made.

You can apply to:

  • remove wrongly registered common land or village greens
  • deregister buildings
  • correct errors

Further information village greens and common land registers and the application process can be found on Kent.gov.uk.

Made and Confirmed Definitive Map Modification Orders

A Definitive Map Modification Order is a legal order which changes the Definitive Map and Statement (DMS). The DMS is a statutory record of public rights of way and anyone has a right to apply for it to be corrected where they believe there is an error or omission.

The decision on whether or not to make such a correction is based purely on the evidence of what public rights exist and it is important to understand that the process is not concerned with issues of management of the ways, desirability of the routes or other such matters. These other concerns may be appropriate and may form part of any subsequent management of a route that is amended or added by an order, but they are not matters that can be considered in determining the Definitive Map Modification Order.

A Definitive Map Modification Order cannot create rights that do not already exist, extinguish rights that do exist nor divert paths onto a preferred route (there are other mechanisms for doing this). It is solely concerned with formally recording the rights that already exist on the ground but are not recorded on the DMS.

We will advertise the order by placing notices at each end of the route affected, in the local press and on this website. There then follows a statutory 42-day consultation period during which anyone can make representations or objections to the order. If any objection is made, and we are unable to resolve them, we must refer the order to the Secretary of State.

Public Inquiries and Hearings

Public inquiries or hearings are held when objections are made to an order, and they are unable to be resolved. The Secretary of State will arrange for the order and the objections to be considered by an independent Inspector, either at a local public inquiry, a hearing, or by exchange of correspondence.

The Inspector will decide whether or not to confirm the order and will only take into account evidence that is relevant to the order. Objectors to the order and also supporters of the order all have a right to be heard in these proceedings. If after considering all the evidence and hearing from the objectors, the Inspector concludes that the claimed rights exist they will confirm that order.

Notice that the order has been confirmed will again be publicised in the press, on this website and with a notice on the route.

Once the order is confirmed the Definitive Map and Statement can be amended to show the affects of the order.

It should also be noted that the Inspector can, if they conclude the evidence to be deficient, decide not to confirm an order; or direct that it is re-advertised with alterations: such as where they conclude that there is reasonable evidence to show that a claimed footpath should be shown as a bridleway, or vice versa.