Barbed wire along public footpath

[MrsCremuel]

Hello all,

Not sure if I have legal standing to complain about this. The owners of the fields/orchards off a local public footpath have erected a fence 4-5ft high topped with barbed wire. This runs along the pedestrian and cycle path connecting the fields behind houses and is well used particularly by families. It can get quite busy at the start of the work/school day. Not at all happy about hazardous barbed wire now lining the route, especially because it narrows sufficiently to make it difficult for say a pram and another pedestrian to pass. They would now brush the wire.

We all need to take responsibility for our selevs and our children's safety but accidents happen and this feels dangerous. I cringe at the thought of a child falling off a scooter or bike into it!

The owners were there and not willing to listen to me or another passerby's concerns. I understand they need to protect their land but this is dangerous. Would welcome your thoughts on the situation! Who would I complain to and would there be any point?

Contact your local highways department, who will be responsible for maintaining the PROW.

Barbed wire should not be fixed on the public right of way side of the fence. It should always be on the field side. In addition, barbed wire should never be wrapped around any post which forms part of a gate or stile. Barbed wire can also cause damage to clothing and other accessories if a public right of way is narrow and weather conditions are windy.

assets.ctfassets.net/ii3xdrqc6nfw/18ixQapSBUY6YkgqIkAg2S/6bff2dcc01a2745f25ecf59c81a876b1/Guidance_for_landowners_and_occupiers.pdf

As long as it fixed in the filed side of the post it’s fine according to this. What is defined as narrow may be subjective.

@LadyFeliciaMontague it's a basic fence made of posts and chicken wire and barbed wire so the barbed wire does face the prow. Thanks!

The barbed wire will be at the top but is it attached to the posts the filed side or the ROW side?
If it’s the field side of the posts (so away from the path as per the picture) then it is correct.

I'll have to check

I expect like us they got fed up with picking bottles, cans, toilet paper, garden rollers, burnt out cars, and garden debris out of their field. Unfortunately some people don't know how to behave and spoil it for everyone else.

4-5ft is quite high. The wire must be on the field side. So do check.

A new footpath must be 6ft wide. An old path has no determined width unless definite in old maps/definitive map held by the local authority highways dept. Often they are narrow and enclosed by hedges. If it’s not a diverted or new path, it could be ok and people shouldn’t reach over into the field/orchard. If it’s on the wrong side then you could complain - but they could erect a 2m high fence obscuring the view - as a resident did in my village. Be careful what you complain about.,

It’s stock fencing. It’s what is used to keep livestock in. If the owners keep, or intend to keep, livestock (especially cattle) then they are being responsible and ensuring that potentially dangerous animals cannot stray onto a public footpath. It also keeps their livestock safe from dogs and people who think it’s funny to let their children chase animals.

Perhaps if the users of the footpath were more respectful of the land adjoining the path then the landowners may not have found it necessary to put fencing up. It’s not cheap so they wouldn’t be putting it up for shits and giggles.

I don’t think fencing is an issue. It’s the placement of barbed wire which is not allowed on the footpath side!

is it ok to hop on here and ask a similar question - the field near us has just had this put up, the exact same fences as the picture above, topped with barbed wire.

On one side is a footpath and on the other side is the pavement alongside the road, so pedestrians both side of the new fence. There are no livestock, it is an field that they grow crops in.

Am I right in thinking that they should not have barbed wire on the tope of the fence that is separating a footpath from a pavement?

thanks

If there is a Public right of way on both sides, then no. Barbed wire is not appropriate. You do need to check on the local authority definitive map that the “footpath” you refer to is on their maps and has a number. Is it way marked? If it is used as a short cut or not officially a path, then they can use the barbed wire facing their land. If they are both registered right of way, then it’s not appropriate and you should let the highways department of the council know. It would be unusual to have footpaths adjacent to each other.

Can't you just avoid the barbed wire? It's everywhere here (lots of sheep in fields) and it has never once occurred to me to moan about it.

Fencing isn't really cheap, so there's obviously a reason they've put it up. Have people been wandering into/walking about the field. Like @Lolalovesmarmite says, they're probably sick of there land being treated like public property. Very often id like to follow some of the worst offenders from where we are and go have a picnic in there garden!!

Argh *their land!

I have a footpath through my horse's paddock and over lockdown I would have been quite happy to put electrified razor wire up as people were such twats.

This is really interesting. Recently I've had to hurdle barbed wire to get to a prw stile and had an electric fence attached to one.

I locked the gate to the field over lockdown (there's a small gate tl the footpath). People kept leaving the gate open and leaving all their picnic shit in the field.so sue me (they didn't, and now there's a stile instead,)

Lots of people on MN are anti walkers. There is always a middle way. I own quite a long length of bridleway and a footpath and my fields have horses in them. We are in a pretty area with high public use. I do not get rubbish and have only twice seen people having a picnic on my land in 30 years.

My footpath has full access at both ends and I wouldn’t dream of cutting it off. The fields have locking gates but no ROW across them. No barbed wire either where the fences are adjacent to the bridleway where most people walk. Neither has my neighbour on the other side. She has ponies too. We don’t see the land abused and we don’t have anger about walkers.

If people have paths that are likely to be abused and are poorly positioned in the land, you can ask for a footpath to be diverted. We actually had one in our garden and had it first diverted and then extinguished. You can fence a path with 2m high close boarded fencing if you wish. This certainly stops people wandering where they shouldn’t. However most highway authorities won’t tolerate barbed wire at a lower level. People here complain - obviously others tolerate it. It’s just difference acceptance levels of barbed wire in the countryside. It’s never a necessary product. It sends a message. But plain wire does the same job.

I wouldn't have barbed wire in a field with horses in. I am not anti walkers - far from it. But in my case enough was enough!

You can fence off a footpath so no one actually gets in with horses. Who would want to anyway? We just don’t have issues like this here and footpath law is clear. The fencing is the land owners responsibility as is a stile. They pay for whatever is required if they own the land. You might get lucky that a council has spare cash but a stile doesn’t alter people using the path. I have kissing gates. Land owners are responsible for maintenance.

No one sues anyone but the Highways authority will deal with complaints about footpaths and how they are maintained and possibly closed off to users. It’s just stupid to be antagonistic.,

Well lucky you not having any issues! I am neither stupid nor antagonistic. The stile has stopped idiots leaving the gate open, thank goodness. I did put electric fencing up between the footpath and the horse, but the people picnicking turned it off so they could go and sit by the stream in his field and feed him crisps. I know they did this as they took photos and put them on Facebook and a mutual friend sent them to me!

The owners of the fields/orchards off a local public footpath have erected a fence 4-5ft high topped with barbed wire

I cringe at the thought of a child falling off a scooter or bike into it!

I've caught myself on barbed wire multiple times in my life (farmer). It's a nasty scratch, but still just a scratch.

I don't think most people living in rural areas would even raise an eyebrow at barbed wire, it's pretty standard fencing.

It's probably legal, and if it isn't it will be easy enough for them to fix to make it legal.

I'm guessing it's been done because people weren't staying on the path. If it's an old path it often only needs to be a width sufficient to allow a man and barrow to use.