Draft Rights of Way Improvement Plan 2026-36

Introduction

What is a Rights of Way Improvement Plan?

Section 60 of the Countryside and Rights of Way (CROW) Act 2000 requires local authorities to publish a Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP) and review it every 10 years.

The aim of a ROWIP is that it prompts the local authority to go further than simply meeting the basic legal duties for maintaining Public Rights of Way (PROW), recognising the multiple benefits that the use of a connected and accessible network of paths can bring.

To produce a ROWIP a full assessment must be made of the needs of the public using the Public Rights of Way and wider countryside access networks, both now and in the future, including the following:

• the extent to which local rights of way and other countryside access resources meet the present and likely future needs of the public;
• opportunities for exercise and other forms of open air recreation and enjoyment of the authority's area; and,
• the accessibility of local rights of way and other routes to blind or partially-sighted people and others with mobility problems.

Following this assessment, which can be read in the Appendix, local authorities are required to prepare a statement of action setting out how improvements to PROW and wider countryside access could be achieved. We have included an aspirational statement of action which sets out what we would like to achieve, if resources allow.

Cheshire East Council published its first ROWIP in 2011. Many of the findings and objectives of that strategy will remain valid now. These include the extent and connectivity of the path network, the benefits of outdoor activities and countryside access, and the barriers to that access. In contrast, some things will have changed in the years since, including the relative age and health profiles of our communities, the pressures on local authority and household budgets and the increasingly evident impacts of climate change. As a society we also have a greater appreciation, learnt through the Covid pandemic lockdowns, of the vital importance of greenspace and countryside access for both mental and physical wellbeing.

The first Cheshire East ROWIP proved useful in increasing the profile of PROW and wider countryside access within the Council and outside it. It enabled integration with strategies of other departments and external organisations. It also provided leverage for funding applications and justification for requests for new or improved paths from developers through the planning system. Learning from the previous ROWIP, the statement of action of this strategy will not be focussed at a path-specific level, more the focus will be on wider actions through which improvements can be delivered.