Public Rights of Way in Effingham

Twenty public footpaths, 12 Bridleways, 1 BOAT, 3 permissive paths plus various walks and trails … Some of them are beautiful, some of them are convenient, and some of them are downright essential to get you out of the traffic. There are different types, and understanding the difference can be helpful.

‘Dedicated’ Public Rights of Way

Footpaths, Bridleways and BOATs (‘Byways Open to All Traffic') are part of Effingham’s Public Rights of Way network. A ‘dedicated’ public right of way is so-called because at some point in the past it went through a solemn process of consultation and advertisement, after which it was deemed to have been dedicated to the use of the public in perpetuity.

All dedicated Public Rights of Way in Effingham are managed by Surrey County Council Rights of Way staff and are thoroughly inspected once a year by Parish Councillors - anything found to be in need of attention then or in the meantime is reported to Surrey County Council. These rights of way are much prized, and not only by parish residents. Any attempt to divert or block them is normally opposed by national organisations as well as locally. 

All dedicated Public Rights of Way are numbered, for example FP 122 Effingham, or BW 131 Effingham, or FP 75 Leatherhead (which follows the boundary).

• for a list of the dedicated Public Rights of Way in Effingham, click here.

• for a map showing these, click here.

• if you walk a Public Right of Way regularly and would like to take over the reporting of items that need attention, contact the Clerk.

• to report a problem on a Public Right of Way to Surrey County Council, click here to use the Surrey County Council on-line report form.

Permissive Paths

Effingham also has some permissive paths, for instance alongside part of the west side of Beech Avenue, on Effingham Common. A permissive path is where a landowner makes a particular route available for public use but can later withdraw it if they choose. The public do not gain a ‘right’ to use these paths over the passage of time. Permissive paths don’t have numbers. Responsibility for maintaining them varies, depending on the agreement that has been made.

Rights of Way on Effingham Common

The routes of Public Footpaths 114 and 548, together with Bridleway 131, cross Effingham Common. The public has the use of these in the normal ways. Guildford Borough Council owns the largest area of the Common, and it has created a permissive route for pedestrians and horseriders which runs alongside Effingham Common Road.

What about roaming, ie going off these paths?

The answer is that Effingham Common is registered open space.  This means that people on foot can roam off the paths, but horseriders, cyclists and any other vehicles cannot.

Special trails

Effingham has a few routes mapped out especially for walkers to enjoy:

• information boards show trails through Great Ridings Wood, which is owned by The Woodland Trust.

• for copies of the Horsley Countryside Preservation Society's Jubilee Trail and Lovelace Bridges Trail, both of which have sections in Effingham, contact the Clerk.

• for a copy of Guildford Borough Council’s Nature Trail through Home Farm Wood, contact the Clerk.

• for a copy of a walk which takes in northern Effingham, contact Surrey Wildlife Trust.

Who can use what?

This is who can use the routes:

Public Footpath – pedestrians only
Public Bridleway – pedestrians, horse-riders, cyclists only
BOATs – all traffic, but there may be notices introducing width restrictions or closures for repair of surface damage

If you see inappropriate use of a Public Right of Way, for instance a quadbike on a Bridleway or a horse-rider on a Footpath, you are strongly advised to report it. There can be consequences if a particular route is regularly used in a way for which it was not originally intended. Click here to use the Surrey County Council on-line report form (select Highways Problems and Enquiries, then R for Rights of Way).

Footpaths are not footways!

Don’t be confused. If you are speaking to Surrey County Council, ‘footpaths’ are totally different from ‘footways’.  To SCC , ‘footways’ are what you and I would call ‘pavements’.

List of Dedicated Public Rights of Way in Effingham

The correct title for each is, for instance, FP 24 EFFINGHAM.
The only exception is FP 75 LEATHERHEAD which is on the exact boundary between Effingham and Little Bookham.

Map of Dedicated Public Rights of Way in Effingham

First go to the Surrey County Council Interactive Map Page, and on that page click on the link accepting the terms and conditions.

You will then be presented with a new window showing, initially, a map of the whole of Surrey. In this window click once on the approximate position of Effingham. At the bottom left of the map is a textbox labelled "Scale". In here, type the number 10000 and press the Return/Enter key - this will show you the map of the Effingham area at a scale of 1:10000.

To adjust the region being viewed, use the "Move map" button in the navigation menu on the left side of the window.

Now click on "Roads and transport" in the menu on the right side of the window to reveal a set of named tickable boxes, e.g. "Footpath", "Bridleway", etc. Tick those that you're interested in.

By now, your window should appear very much as below (the large red blobs have been artificially added to highlight relevant features).

Finally, click the "Refresh map" button near the top right in the window. The map will now be regenerated showing coloured dotted lines representing the ticked features, e.g. the footpaths.