from Countryside Agency web here
The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 set a deadline of 1st January 2026 to register forgotten historic footpaths and bridleways on the definitive map. It is therefore essential to uncover as many rights of way as possible over the next 21 years and the Discovering Lost Ways Project is responsible for making sure this happens.
After an initial research report on the scale and nature of the task and options for taking the work forward, we concluded that the best way to carry out the work was to set up an Archive Research Unit (ARU). This Unit will undertake and coordinate the systematic research of historic documents held in over 100 national and local records offices throughout England.
Following a thorough competitive tendering process, a contract was signed with Land Aspects on 6th July 2004 and the launch of the Unit announced by Alun Michael at the IPROW conference on 9th July. For a copy of the Press Release: Click here
How will the ARU operate?
The detailed evidence collection will start with research in the National Archives at Kew, utilising this central collection of Tithe and Finance Act Records. This will be followed by a staged approach to county based research in local records offices, beginning in two ‘lead’ areas – Wiltshire and Cheshire.
In advance of this evidence collection, base maps will be prepared using OS contemporary mapping 1:10,000 Raster data, supplemented with available local authority information. A comparison will be made with digitised OS pre-war Historical Map Data County Series.
Archive research in the two lead areas will be completed in May 2005. This will be expanded to collect all of the available evidence for ten counties by the end of the third year of the contract. We will use the experience from this initial period to refine our approach as necessary, in discussion with the key interests and anticipate countrywide coverage in less than ten years.
Liaison and planning
In advance of the research beginning in each County, the Regional Planning and Liaison Officer (RPLO) will contact key interests including rights of way and archive officers, volunteer groups and experienced researchers, landowners and managers to explain the process and devise an Archive Research Plan (ARP). This ARP will detail how the work will be approached and tailored to reflect local factors, such as progress with the definitive map and research already undertaken.
We will be developing further aspects of the work, in discussion with partners, over the coming months as implementation begins. This will include:
exploring the potential of an accreditation scheme, endorsed by the key interest groups, in order to minimise the need for surveying authorities to reassess in detail the quality of evidence collected by the ARU;
identifying the best mechanism (and claiming body) for submitting claims to the order making authorities;
involving local volunteers in evidence collection and deciding how any evidence that they have already collected can best be organised to assist the core aim of ensuring that lost ways are put on the definitive map. Support for volunteers will include training and a reimbursement scheme set against rigorous quality assurance standards.