There are many public rights of way (PROW) in Worcestershire and indeed England and Wales. These rights of way can be on privately owned land and it is an offence to block them without “lawful authority or excuse”. The public can use them at any time. You can take a pushchair or wheelchair if the path is suitable but you will need to take into account that the surface may be uneven, waterlogged or muddy and there may be stiles and gates.  You can take photographs or have a small picnic but remember to take your litter home. You can also take your dog but they must be kept under control particularly if near livestock. Be careful not to stray off the footpath as you may be committing trespass and that includes your dog!

 There are four types of public right of way in England and Wales. In addition, there are also permissive rights of way which the landowner has given permission for people to walk or ride. The permission may just be for walkers and may be withdrawn by the landowner at any time.

Yellow	Blue	Plum	Red	Permissive
Footpath for walkers including wheelchairs and pushchairs	Bridleway for walkers, cyclists and ridden or driven horses	Restricted byway for non-motorised vehicles	Byway open to all traffic	Permission given by the landowner

Catshill and North Marlbrook, Bournheath and Lickey & Blackwell Parish all have their own footpath warden, responsible for monitoring our footpath and that includes reporting issues such as flooding or blockages and maintaining “waymarks” like the ones above. There is also a Volunteer Work Party team.

Ordnance Survey (OS) maps are the easiest way of finding out rights of way and the Explorer series (1:25,000 scale) is the most useful for walkers. Public rights of way are shown in green and permissive paths are orange. Most of the walks on this site are covered by map 219 (Wolverhampton and Dudley) but you will also need map 220 if you want to cover East of Barnt Green and 204 if you want to cover South of Bromsgrove. You may prefer to buy a custom map that is centred on your house! More details from https://shop.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/custom-made . An alternative is to install the OS app on your mobile device.

Worcestershire County Council (WCC) provide useful information at https://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/info/20237/public_rights_of_way

There is an excellent interactive map that can also be used on mobile devices at https://gis.worcestershire.gov.uk/website/Countryside

There is also a facility to report a footpath issue you may come across such as a blocked path or broken stile. It is at https://capublic.worcestershire.gov.uk/PROWPublic/PROWFault.aspx?_ga=2.25940669.1073832582.1663084408-1198923342.1658215250