A document produced by Cornwall County Council, entitled Public Rights of Way, lists 72 footpaths and bridleways in the Parish of St Agnes as at 1st January 2000.  Of these, 15 are bridleways only, 45 are footpaths only, and the remainder a combination of the two.

Apart from being numbered, each right of way is identified by a description of its location, for example:

3 Footpath from south of Trevaunance Cove to Old Quay Head (FP4) 2’ 6”

If the footpath joins another, the latter is shown in brackets, as in the example. The measurement (in feet and inches) represents the average width of the footpath or bridleway.

Who looks after St Agnes' footpaths?

March 2007

It’s budget time in Cornwall and, with less money in the kitty, the focus has been on cut-backs. One might think the budget for maintaining footpaths would have been an easy target  since it doesn’t attract nearly as much attention as cutting social services.

But, in a news item posted 15th February, Cornwall County Council state that “Footpaths and Public Rights of Way in Cornwall will not be affected by the need to reduce some County Council budgets from April. CCC is committed to improving the Public Rights of Way network in the county. This is a high priority for members of the County Council's Executive.”

Adam Paynter, deputy leader of CCC and the Executive member responsible for Environment and Heritage, said "I am very glad I have been able to ensure that footpath budgets in Cornwall will not have to be cut. In fact I am able to say that more resources are going into improving and managing paths and trails in Cornwall then ever before."

The news item adds “The County Council is also ensuring that funds available for footpaths and bridleways are spent as efficiently as possible, resulting in more work being carried out on the ground.”

Sounds good but that assumes that County is paying for all our footpaths. What about the land owned by the National Trust, or the seventy plus footpaths and bridleways in the Parish, or the coastal footpath?

The last item is quickly answered. “The Countryside Agency [part of CCC] provides financial support for maintenance, wardening and improvement of the Coast Path” states a 2005 CCC report.

And our 70-odd footpaths and bridleways? The same document says “Cornwall has developed the Local Maintenance Project (LMP), which supports and empowers parish councils to maintain local rights of way. The County Council delegates powers and currently provides 90% of the cost of cutting surface vegetation and undertaking minor works.”

In line with the LMP, our Parish Council receives an annual contribution towards the cost of maintaining the footpaths and bridleways of the Parish. This, plus a bit extra from the Parish Council purse, is used to pay a contractor who does the actual cutting. Not all of the 70 though. The Parish Council has a footpath sub-committee that monitors the condition of these rights of way, making sure that they do not fall into disuse and the sub-committee also allocates footpaths to volunteers who are prepared to maintain them.

The rest of the Parish footpaths, the majority, are maintained by Mark Herman, our contractor. He has a cutting map of the Parish, a large sheet about 8 pages of A4 in size, on which the footpaths he has been allocated are clearly marked, their lines cropping up in every ward.

And the National Trust? It owns the Beacon and the stretch of coast from Newdowns Head to just short of Porthtowan. National Trust staff and volunteers cut many of the paths in this area, some of which are not designated as public rights of way and therefore receive no public funding for their maintenance. It also cuts some of the public footpaths to supplement the work funded by the CCC.

Text: © Mario de Pace, Photos © Dawn Brown