Access campaigners have welcomed news that the Senedd has repealed the 2026 cut-off date to register historic public rights of way in Wales. The deadline would have meant many old paths, those not yet recorded on definitive maps, risked being lost to the public forever. 

There are over 8,000 miles of paths across Wales that are currently unrecorded, which means they are not legally protected – even though many of them have been used for centuries. These paths were identified by volunteers in just six weeks as part of the Ramblers' Don't Lose Your Way campaign.

"The Welsh Government's decision to remove the arbitrary and potentially disastrous deadline for registering historic rights of way is fantastic news for everyone who uses public paths in Wales. It's also a well-deserved boost for the dedicated campaigners who have spent decades working to ensure these routes are properly recorded" said Eben Muse, the BMC's Policy & Campaigns Officer for Wales.

"Many of these paths have been in use for generations  and securing access to them for the future is clearly the right thing to do. They are a part of our shared inheritance.

"It has been claimed that the public has had ample time to register these rights of way, and that removing the deadline is unfair to landowners. In reality, it has taken decades for many applications to be processed, and many more still await processing. This is not a system fit for purpose, and the now-scrapped deadline was a guillotine waiting to fall on cherished and historically significant public rights of way."

Having won this major concession, access organisations are now likely to focus on holding both the UK and Welsh Governments to account on their pledges to improve public access to nature. The Ramblers point out that despite significant progress towards improving access to the outdoors, the current state of public rights of way across Wales remains a problem. According to a recent report by the Environment and Rural Affairs Monitoring and Modelling Programme, half of Wales' public rights of way are blocked and/or unsigned.

Among the groups celebrating the latest win are the Open Spaces Society.

"The society is proud to have been able to influence this outcome, which is of long-term benefit to the people of Wales" said its General Secretary Kate Ashbrook.

"This will save countless unrecorded paths from extinction.  It would have been impossible for volunteers in Wales to apply for all the missing paths by 1 January 2026, and the local authorities, which have growing backlogs of claims to process, would have been overwhelmed.

"It is vital that we still research and apply for lost ways, as unrecorded paths are at immense risk, but at least in Wales we are not working to a deadline."

Attention now shifts to the UK Government's promise to do the same for England, something that will require primary legislation. 

"Now we need the Westminster Government to fulfil its boxing-day [2024] promise and legislate swiftly to repeal the cut off in England" said Kate Ashbrook.