Environment and roads

The definitive map and statement

Just like roads, rights of way are highways and are protected by legislation. Unless stopped up by legal means, they remain highways even if they are not recognisable on the ground, hence the saying 'Once a highway, always a highway'.

Origins

The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 placed a duty on every county council in England and Wales to draw up and publish a Definitive Map and Statement for their area.

The Definitive Map records the position and status of public rights of way while the Definitive Statement is a list describing each public right of way shown on the Definitive Map. Together they form a legal document and are maintained by the County Council. The Definitive Map and Statement is conclusive evidence for the paths it shows, but there may be other paths with public rights that are not shown.

The information on Definitive Maps is used by the Ordnance Survey to show public rights of way on their maps, although they also show non-definitive paths as well.

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 requires that the Definitive Map and Statement is continually updated to incorporate the changes that have come about through legal orders. In Hertfordshire, the first Definitive Map was drawn up in 1953 using information collected from surveys carried out by Parish Councils. It has been republished in 1988, 1991, 2000 and 2005 to include all the legal changes that have occurred since then.

Changes to the Map

The Definitive Map can be changed and new paths added to it by applying to the County Council to make a Modification Order if the map is shown to be incorrect. Other legal changes to the route of a path on the map can be made by Diversion Order.

All applications for Modification Orders and Diverson Orders are processed according to our Statement of Priorities. It sets out the order in which cases will be dealt with.