Coronavirus - Public Rights of Way advice

Exercise is still important for people’s physical and mental wellbeing, so the government has said people can leave their homes for exercise once a day.

Concern has been raised by some farmers and residents, who have public footpaths and bridleways through their farmyards, across their land or very close to properties, of the public not abiding by the social distancing guidelines. This leads to fear of an increasing risk of exposure to Covid-19 to residents and farm workers.

If you are concerned about the public using a public footpath or bridleway, we have created two posters which you can download and display. These posters are to remind everyone of social distancing whilst on the public rights of way network.

Defra (external link) have advised that the risk of the coronavirus being passed on to others from people using public rights of way, and other paths and trails is considered to be very low, as long as people follow the Government’s instructions to maintain social distancing. They are also reminding people to follow the Countryside Code which can be found on their Twitter and Facebook page.

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