Suffolk Coastal has powers to make a variety of public path
orders and to make public path creation agreements. Most of the
orders made by the Council are
funded by the applicants and use the
Council's power under section 119 of the Highways Act 1980 to
divert routes. Orders to
extinguish routes can be made under section
118 of the Highways Act 1980.
Creation agreements are made under section 25
of the Highways Act 1980.
Routes can also be diverted or stopped up under section 257 of
the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, if it is necessary to do so
to implement a planning permission given by the Council.
Applications made under this legislation are also usually funded by
the applicant.
Suffolk Coastal carries out informal consultations on all
applications for public path orders before deciding whether to make
an order. Proposals are often altered as a result of consultations
and the Council is keen for applicants and consultees to reach
agreement wherever possible. Opposed applications, or those that do
not appear to meet the statutory criteria, are determined by the
Council's
Rights of Way Committee.
If the Council makes an order to which a public objection is
received it can only proceed with the order by referring it to the
Planning Inspectorate for determination.
This may mean that a public inquiry is held.
The changes made by such orders and agreements affect the right
of the public to cross private land and so can be contentious and
the subject of impassioned debate. Because of this it is important
that the system of making decisions on changes to the public rights
of way network is seen to be open and impartial, consisting of
sound judgements made for justifiable reasons. To this end Suffolk
Coastal has a code of practice that sets out clearly the
way in which the Council deals with applications for public path
orders and agreements.
How to create a footpath or
bridleway
How to divert a footpath or
bridleway
How to extinguish a footpath or
bridleway