How many people who use the access network for the leisure and pleasure ask themselves;
"What is a lostway."
These groups researching lostways are try to discover proof that a public right of way existed, so that this proof can be used to legally re-open old footpaths and bridleways, which were not included in the Definitive Map.
But it is common knowledge among'st those who have studied social history of the time that political difference between the active parties, given the task of enacting the intentions of the 1949 Act of Parliament, is the real reason why many miles of rightful Public Right of Way are not on the map.
There is a very simple way to find a lost way, compare early editions of the OS mapping, published from the 1880's with today's OS mapping, which show our public rights of way.
Are these extra ways important? Many add 'continuity of way' to the existing network, which is both a social asset as well as an economic asset in this countries infra structure.
Should such an important tasks be just the responsibility of small groups of volunteers however enthusiastic or should those authorities, whose mal-administration resulted in the loss of important infrastructure, be taking a more active part.
It is in the constitution of Local Access Forums to take an even handed approach to the interests of landowner and accessee, but it is the predecessors of today's landowners, who corrupted the Definitive Map.
