Public rights of way

Public rights of way can be created in two ways:

• A landowner can dedicate a path for public use. This must be open to everyone, forever, but the landowner can decide who can use it (e.g. walkers only, or walkers and cyclists).
• A path may become a public right of way over time if the public has used it openly and without being stopped for 20 years.

Landowners can also give the council a map showing the paths on their land and declare that they don’t plan to dedicate any more routes. Hampshire County Council has more information about this.