Foreword

The County Council is under a duty to assert and protect the rights of the public to the use and enjoyment of any highway for which we are the highway authority. As Highway Authority for the administrative county of Hertfordshire this responsibility includes the 3000km of public rights of way that are recorded in the Definitive Map and Statement.

As part of a review into the management of the rights of way network in Hertfordshire, members resolved to produce a Good Practice Guide that would set out detailed standards and operational procedures together with advice and best practice drawn from a wide range of sources. The completion of this Guide is the first step along the way to ensuring a consistent and practical approach to the management of rights of way in Hertfordshire.

Work on the Good Practice Guide began in 1998 and resulted in a draft being put out for consultation in July 1999. Ninety copies were sent out and comments, both detailed and general were received. The document has undergone some significant changes as a result and forms a key part in a new approach to the management of the rights of way network endorsed at a meeting of the County Council's Executive Committee in January 2001. The new approach establishes a set of clear priorities, supported by a Statement of Policies and the Good Practice Guide.

The Good Practice Guide is intended to cover all aspects of the management of public rights of way, and although designed for use by officers the standards, advice and best practice within will be of value to anyone with an interest in rights of way. The operational procedures and standards will be applied to those areas managed directly by the County Council from April 2001 [Executive Committee 29/01/01 Resolution 3]. The County Council will be investigating how these standards can be applied to the network managed by the Borough Council Agencies and Partnerships, in order to implement them by April 2002 [Executive Committee 29/01/01 Resolution 4].