To maintain a farmer’s land myself?

[Shan5474]

I think some people will say this is petty and I need to get a hobby, thing is walking and gardening are my hobbies.

In a nutshell, if you were a farmer or landowner, would you be annoyed at someone maintaining a path that runs in between/through your fields?

The path is the quickest way to the neighbouring village and river, it’s hilly but lovely. Public transport takes an hour whereas this is a direct 30 minute walk. The problem is the path (it is a right of way, marked on paper maps and has yellow arrows by the styles) is maintained about twice a year so for much of the summer and winter it’s impassable unless you’re wearing chainsaw trousers and a helmet due to 6ft+ nettles, brambles and weeds. The path was maintained a few days ago but it’s still impassable (see photo - it’s really not possible to walk through). Second photo is just the nice view while on the walk.

I know farmers are very busy. However this farmer does have time to set up occasional shoots in one of the fields that the path runs directly through which I’m surprised is allowed on a public right of way.

This is really rambly but my question is if I were to contact the farmer somehow and offer to maintain it, or in fact just do it myself, would this be unreasonable and what kind of response can I expect?

@Smidge001 She really shouldn't.

How would you felt if I came in your garden and started pruning your bush!

Oh don't misunderstand me @sprigatito - I am firmly in support of shooting. We shoot ourselves and always have done. 90% of the meat we eat in this house is free range, killed quickly and cleanly by ourselves, plucked/skinned and butchered by me and very very local! We have pheasant/partridge/duck/rabbit/venison that has never set foot in a processing plant or abattoir and is highly valued.

However - right of way. I will forever defend and back keeping existing RoW, it is vital we keep these routes open. Mr. Farmer will have to find somewhere else for the pheasants! Speak to him. It might be fruitful. He might just have so much on its bottom of the list!

If it was your land, you'd have a legal obligation to keep it clear, free of obstruction (which includes vegitation) and visible. You'd also have a responsibility to maintain access points such as stiles. You can be charged for not doing so, if the LA has to step in and do it for you.

Attempting to prosecute someone for cutting back vegetation purely in order to safely access the ROW would be a huge waste of your time and money, you would lose.

OP, find out what volunteer groups help maintain ROW - the Ramblers local group is usually an excellent place to start enquiring- and offer your services. They’ll know the proper procedures.

Taking a multi tool or a pair of secateurs on a walk next time is also not a terrible idea.

If West Sussex the ROW team are pants! I would report it. West Sussex has a priority maintenance schedule & yours could be on it. Go on web site & see if you can find your path. It will have a number. Then there is a form for reporting it. A lot of PROW users take matters into their own hands (eg, go out with loppers, etc) with few repercussions. However, yours look a bit beyond this. Sometimes groups of equestrians will do this. The landowner should maintain it, but policing is lacking. Good luck!

May surprise you to know most people who hunt and shoot aren't actually the gentry... yes you get that at the top. Of course you do. However the vast majority are normal folk.
We shoot, we manage to be out 3 x a week through the season. My DD covers miles outside beating, she is learning leadership skills and a connection to the countryside. Our meat has never seen the inside of a factory, has been respectfully prepared and is incredibly local.
Save you ire for people who blindly buy 2 for £5 chickens in Tesco, or happily buy anything without checking country of origin. Who don't care. Because we really, really do.

We've actually had luck round here asking the farmer and they've often just popped by and sorted it out. So you might save yourself a job, certainly seems worth asking. If they say no and you don't mind then worth offering.

We are landowners so I can offer some perspective.

Most farmers spray off a footpath once or twice a year to keep it down, but depending what enviro schemes they are in, or maybe even going for organic certification they may not be allowed to use such pesticides under the terms of the scheme. Manually cutting it (even with machinery) is time consuming and at this time of year it grows back quickly unless the path is a well used one, then the foot traffic keeps it down for you.

It is bang out of order to take it upon yourself to ' maintain' it. A footpath is simply a right to cross the farmers land and it confers no rights upon you to break so much as a twig, even if it is literally blocking the footpath. The land, the vegetation and everythings else remains the landowners property and you must not interfere with it under any circumstances.

If there is a problem your local councils public rights of way team are normally very helpful, both to the public and often to the landowners too. They will speak to them on your behalf and remind them of the importance of keeping PROW passable and safe, in some cases they will help them farmer do it.
We have a stream that is crossed by a right of way and a few years back the little wooden bridge gave out. It had rotted away underneath unseen and became unsafe. It was reported online by someone (which annoyed me initially as I always think I am fairly approachable about stuff like that) and our local PROW officer contacted me. To my surprise and delight the local council actually offered to get their workman to come and install a new crossing at no cost to me. I was very happy, the local walkers are very happy and everyone wins.

If you know the farmer well enough then have a polite word, if not the report to the rights of way officer of the local council.

The shooting is a non issue. As I said before, a footpath is simply a right to cross the land, the owner retains full rights to use the land as they see fit provided that it doesn't stop you using the footpath. The occasional shoot is not going to do that, if they're shooting when you are walking then simply stop and wait a few minutes. They'll most likely wave you on through when they see you, making sure all the guns know you are there to ensure your safety. On our little shoot here, I have actually had a serving police officer shoot with us and he was stood smack on the footpath on one drive. Perfectly safe and legal provided care is exercised.

The other side of this equation is that you must not do anything to interfere with the farmers lawful use of his land, and shooting would come under that. So if you disagree with shooting on a moral level that is your right, but if you decide to walk up and down the footpath intentionally to try and disrupt the activity then that would be termed aggravated trespass even though you're on a footpath. People have been convicted in court under these circumstances.

no leave it alone it’s his land. You can speak to him and see if a solution can be reached.

I’d also just do it, the farmer may not be welcoming. I agree they’d have trouble proving criminal damage to bindweed!

Some poisonous plants won't be eaten by livestock whilst growing. But if cut and dried out they can become palatable with fatal results. You could inadvertently poison some livestock. So I would beware of cutting it back without permission.

@Godnotthisagain Thank you for your perspective, it’s interesting that there are different opinions even among landowners. I will let the ROW team handle it and not do anything or contact the farmer (I don’t know him, I’ve only seen him once). I do understand farmers are busy and this isn’t top priority which is why I thought offering to help might be useful.
Don’t worry I definitely wouldn’t try to disrupt a shoot, I was only thinking of the safety aspect as I wouldn’t want to emerge from behind a hedgerow and startle anyone