After reading Mel and Jimbobs posts and given them some though I will try to approach my suggestion from a different angle.
Farmers/ landowners get subsidies.
UK gov.com has promised recipients of these subsidies that the will not lose out, when the brexit transition makes the UK gov. the source of these subsidies changes from Brussels back to the modern equivalent of Min of Ag & Fish, as before we joined EU.
Since that time certain rules have been introduced, the recipients of subsidies, known as Single Farm supplements (still are as far as I know) and these can amount to a sum just short of £100 per acre. If the rules are observed this is known as compliance and non compliance can lead to subsidies not being paid.
UK gov. are now looking for suggestion for a set of rules, updated, improved etc for the new post brexit era.
This has been passed down to local authorities and other interested parties to discuss.
In the past a bad record on rights of way can be seen as non compliance.
My wording of complaints is seen to be aggressive. This wording stems from my feeling that a complaint is a justifiable response to a grievance, but leaving that aside, is it a time that suggestions should be bought forward based on experiences, on how the commercial occupiers of the land and the leisure users of the countryside share a common asset.
An occupier with Rights of Way makes contribution to the social and economic welfare of his surrounding community.
The occupier without makes no contribution but expects to be paid if he does provide permissive ways.
An occupier, who has a feature within his boundary, historical, natural or otherwise useful to the surrounding community, may be diminishing the effect of the communities social or economic access based endeavors.
I have pointed out on many times that lost ways are often missing pieces of old routes, I do not advocate reinstatement, merely because they are there but I have tried very hard to link them into a future usefulness.
Where the highways network has changed, parts of old routes become unsafe, there is no provision for an occupier to assess safety.
Much of the subsidy now going into agriculture and so called land management is for conservation and social improvement, the old reasons of controlling food prices are long gone, so the use of the word of subsidy is non pc, but I use it to stress the transition that is taking place.
There are no protests to be signed, no appeals for 'suggestions' and other campaigning instruments, just an observation based on a snippet of gossip or was inside information.