As the county council’s income reduces but demand for services such as adult social care continues to increase, it needs to find savings and new ways of working in everything it does.
The county council needs to balance what it can spend on maintaining highways and rights of way, and the need to spend more on the most vulnerable people in their society, including vulnerable children and families. Read more about council budgets.
With reducing resources Staffordshire County Council must focus on its statutory duties and is no longer in a position to fund amenity maintenance works that keep our localities looking good.
Many local councils already deliver these types of activities by keeping footpaths accessible and maintaining hedges and verge areas in their towns and parishes.
This website aims to provide local councils with information they might need to get local people more involved and actively take pride in their local environment.
The county council is proposing new standards for how it maintains rights of way that focuses money and activity on those footpaths and bridleways which are of most value and benefit to to local people, the economy and for promoting tourism. Take part in the consultation.
The county council wants to work with local people and organisations who are passionate about their area to help them to take action on locally important issues.
The county council maintains over 6,000 km of roads across the county with a focus on making sure that they are safe for use and keeping Staffordshire’s residents, visitors and businesses on the move. It is also responsible for the rest of the public road network in Staffordshire.
The council have a statutory responsibility to keep the public highway safe and serviceable.
Despite a falling budget, Staffordshire County Council will continue to invest available funds into maintaining and improving the highway network. However it cannot continue to fund small highways amenities tasks. They will continue to carry out the following:
- Improvements will include the putting in place new highways features such as pedestrian crossings and junction re-alignments to improve road safety
- Maintenance will include a number of areas including:
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- Preventative works to keep roads in good condition
- Structural works to replace worn out roads
- Safety repairs such as potholes
- Cyclical and seasonal work:
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- Basic grass cutting to maintain road visibility
- Basic weed spraying to protect the road structure
- Essential tree works
- Gully empting
- Winter gritting
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Local councils have discretionary powers to take control of minor problems themselves.
Local parish councils already:
- take part in “Best Kept Village” and “Britain in Bloom” initiatives
- undertake enhanced grass cutting activities (above and beyond that funded by the county council) and maintain planting areas
- organise “Ice Buster” teams to treat local walking routes to keep them free of ice and snow.
The county council looks after 4,500km of rights of way. The duty for keeping public rights of way open and available for the public to use is divided between the county council, as highway authority, and the landowner/occupier of the land.
A consultation is currently being held about a suggested new way to ensure the county council’s reduced budget is spent in a way that provides the greatest benefits.
The consultation isn’t about the amount of money that can be spent on rights of way, but on the best way to look after such a big network with the money available.
Staffordshire County Council propose to introduce a new way of looking after the rights of way network in Staffordshire, taking into account the reduced budget going forward. Specific proposals include:
- a hierarchy system which identifies some routes as adding more value than others
- the provisional categorisation of each route as either A, B or C.
- a new web-based system of keeping people informed of progress if they have reported an issue or asked for help regarding a right of way.
- enhancing the council’s volunteer programme to enable more members of the community to help maintain local routes.
It means that proactive maintenance carried out by the county council will be primarily focused on A routes. It also means issues reported on A routes will be dealt with sooner than the same issue reported on a B or C route. In the short term, people may see less maintenance on C (and possibly B) routes. However, over time, it is hoped that more communities would get involved in helping to keep rights of way open, accessible and well maintained, so that eventually, they will all be in better condition.
The provisional categorisation of each right of way is just a starting point. The consultation is asking for more local knowledge to inform the final decision
Parish Councils have no specific duties for rights of way, however, they are given certain powers which can help the public to enjoy the public path network.
Regardless of which routes are finally classed as A, B or C as a result of the consultation, it’s clear that more help from the community is needed to keep all routes open, accessible and looking good.
Over time, it is hoped that more communities will get involved in helping keep all rights of way open, accessible and well maintained, so that they are all in a better condition than they are now.
Read a summary of your options to help keep rights of way in your area open and accessible.