The public could lose access forever to thousands of miles of paths across England after landowners successfully lobbied the government, openDemocracy can reveal.
Campaigners have identified 41,000 miles of potential historical rights of way in England and hope to apply to have many of them recorded on modern-day maps.
But in March, environment secretary Thérèse Coffey U-turned on a government commitment to abolish the 2026 cut-off for applying to save these ‘lost paths’.
