I can understand that paths may get overgrown and disappear if not used but how does it lose its public rights of way status?
The Ramblers Association have been a massive exercise of checking footpaths on old maps against current OS maps, so far they have discovered 49,000 miles of footpaths missing. The Government has agreed to to allow until 2026 to re-establish lost footpaths.
I've got to say that this would appear to have been a conscious decision by Ordnance Survey to delete old footpaths off their maps.
I was reading a blog from OS last week from about public rights of way, and it seems the decision to delete footpaths from their updated maps is down to each local authority which they then amend in their next publication.
"Public rights of way information is sent to us by local authorities, and a right of way doesn’t necessarily mean a footpath on the ground. We’re also often asked about blocked or overgrown rights of way. These need to be reported to your local authority too and, if any changes on our maps are required, they will pass that information along."
Someone asked them about their maps showing a public rights of way but saying there was no actual right of way or footpath there, and their response was: "Rights of way are managed by the Local Authority, who will advise us any amendments, which we will then include in the next revision of our paper mapping products. Our Explorer mapping depicts Public Rights of Way with green dashed lines as you say. Of course, Rights of way are liable to change and may not be clearly defined on the ground (there doesn’t need to be a physical path on the ground for a public right of way to exist). You can always check with the relevant local authority for the latest information. If there is a conflict between our mapping and the Local Authority’s Definitive Map, the Definitive Map should take precedent.
As Rights of Way are managed by the Local Authority, any changes/errors should be reported to them and they will then instruct us to update our map to reflect changes to the Rights of Way."
They compared their map with the local authority map in question, and OS found they both matched.
https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/blog/2018/07/right-to-roam-public-rights-of-way/Where are the 27 miles of missing paths in Wirral? I would ike to check them out.
Wirral Footpaths and Open Spaces Society says: "The Society needs your support to ensure that the paths in the Hundred of Wirral are walked regularly and that any problems are reported to the local authorities concerned."
Unfortunately, it seems that it is the local authority that can't be arsed with them.