Welcome to the annual update relating to the Public Rights of Way Network and associated routes that link up across the Wirral Peninsula. As usual the purpose of my annual newsletter is to provide an update on work carried out in the last 12 months and sets out aspirations for 2025 into 2026.
The Wirral Public Rights of Way network continues to be maintained to enhance the public access to the 75 miles of public rights of way, plus approximately 25 miles of permissive footpaths, bridleways, and off-road cycle tracks. This is in addition to the 15 miles of the Wirral Way within Wirral Country Park from West Kirby to Hooton. The overall aim of promoting and maintaining these historic public routes is to provide an accessible recreational facility, helping to improve our health and wellbeing as well as connectivity for Wirral residents and visitors alike.
- The King Charles III England Coast Path:
the Wirral section was fully opened in January:
The above photo shows the new section of the King Charles III England Coast Path along the cliff top between Wirral Country Park and Heswall Fields being part of the 18-mile Wirral section from Seacombe Ferry to the Cheshire West and Chester boundary just north of Parkgate and this all forms part of improved walking access around the coast of England forming the new national trail of 2,700 miles which when fully open will be the longest coastal path in the world. Please view more information.
- Other new pieces of work along the coast path include a new main bridge in Tinkers Dell:
With a new smaller bridge nearby and gabion baskets to support the path:
- Plus, a new flight of steps down to Thurstaston Beach:
With a new bridge and steps within a previously inaccessible ravine that leads out onto the cliff top:
Other work carried out across the network throughout the year in addition to the Coast Path
- Footpath 72, upper Dungeon Wood, 30m of Boardwalk replaced with a whole new gravel gritstone path:
The footbridge, also on Footpath 72 in the lower part of Dungeon Wood was replaced.
Other paths:
- Footpath 30 at Chester High Road, we put in a new anti-cycle fence around the gate.
- Byway 11a, West Grove, 60m of surface improvements were done.
- Footpaths 6 & 7, Wirral Golf Club: Noctorum Lane, new turnstile gate installed to assist with the prevention of anti-social behaviour on the Golf Course.
- Footpath 8, Storeton: in addition to the surface improvements west of the M53 footbridge that we did in 2023, we have now fitted an additional gate to the Stanley Wood footbridge that we replaced in 2018.
- Footpath 45, Grange Hill, we fitted some railings at the stone steps to aid access which was well received by many.
- Byway 18, Beacon Lane: re layering & scrape and roll to the uneven surface near the car park.
- Port Sunlight Walk and Cycle Path: drainage work was done to reduce the flooding near the A41 bridge.
- Footpath 4, Clatterbridge - Rocklands Lane, the K gates installed about 10 years ago were repaired.
- The Walk and Cycle Paths have also received attention by our Summer Seasonal operative at the following locations: the Hoylake walk and cycle path, the Wirral Circular Trail at Leasowe alongside the River Birket, the Upton – Woodchurch route 56 Cycle Path, Eastham Country Park - Port Sunlight – Shorefields walk and cycle paths and the walk and cycle path behind B&Q where the flooding is also being monitored.
- Footpath 32, Thermopylae Pass, Upton Road, Bidston where a new gate and fence has been installed.
- Dibbinsdale Local Nature Reserve: well worth a visit if you are not familiar with this precious area: By working with the local Ranger we have improved the surfaces of footpaths 29, 52 & 53, and the photo below shows the ‘Otter Tunnel’ under the railway and where footpaths 54 and 55 meet and the revetment seen below has also been replaced:
- Footpath 3, on the east side of Heswall Golf Course was considerably improved to link up with work we did on footpath 3 a few years ago where the path goes across a once muddy field to the Cheshire boundary. The work involved this last year included a new sleeper bridge and 360m of new path laid. It must be noted that getting such a quantity of materials to a remote location like this does require dry conditions to get the machinery along the edge of the Golf Course plus their co- operation and assistance which of course was greatly appreciated:
The annual pothole filling continues along Byways 31 and 42, Oldfield Drive, 18, Beacon Lane and 29: Grange Road, all in Heswall and Byway 64 in Irby. Broad Lane, Byway 39 in Lower Heswall has become very problematic in the last 24 months where improvements have been made and will continue to be maintained to a reasonable standard.
The online Definitive Map with other publicly accessible routes is proving a popular resource that can be easily updated. This is all linked to other Geographical Information Systems based on the National Street Gazetteer and this has helped the ongoing development of The Highways Asset Management Plan with the compilation of an extensive register of the rights of way assets including fingerposts, historic sandstone step over stiles, gates, bridges and surfaces all being entered onto the database with photos and map references and accurate pinpoint locations. This has enabled what should be an easier problem reporting system.
The Wirral Circular Trail continues to be a very successful 35-mile walking and cycling route around Wirral, signposted and described in an 88 page booklet that is still available and there’s also the other walking and cycling leaflets all available to download.
We developed the new Wirral Cycle Map a couple of years ago.
The 2018 – 2028 Rights of Way Improvement Plan: now in its 8th year, the ROWIP links with other policies and strategies across The Liverpool City Region and continues to help provide Capital funding for the public rights of way and off-road cycle track network.
Volunteer mornings: these continued throughout 2024 but on a restrictive basis due to time being spent on the Coast Path, therefore it was alternate Thursday mornings from May to November, whereby the fine group of 10 to a dozen volunteers armed with shears or loppers still notched up numerous person- hours cutting and trimming brambles, branches and nettles etc on the public footpaths and bridleways which always continues to be very much appreciated.
Although there is a start date of the 10 April 2025 for this years’ Volunteers, it’s not currently known how this will continue throughout the year. This is the opportunity to thank all those Volunteers who have enjoyed braving the extremes of the weather on many Thursday mornings for many years although the ‘Thursday Morning weather’ has usually been very kind to us.
The National Trust Volunteers on Thurstaston Common continue to make a great difference to the network, so a big thanks to all their volunteers too.
Port Sunlight River Park and links to Eastham Country Park: The 80 acres of Port Sunlight River Park, which opened in August 2014 is currently accessed via the main entrance in Dock Road North on foot or by cycle and to the north via the path from Shorefields Park. Please see the splendours of the River Park via: Port Sunlight River Park - The Land Trust
Developments on the south side of the River Dibbin are currently going ahead, and this will eventually provide access over our green bridge through to The Old Court House Site and link the River Park to Bromborough Pool, The Croft Retail Park and all routes along the East coast to Eastham Country Park via Port Sunlight. All these routes will help support the case for the re-instatement of the historic footpath 56 along the east coast shoreline where possible. It should be noted that exploratory investigations have also been started regarding the feasibility of improving the coastal route from Rock Park to Shorefields and on down to link to the north end of the River Park. There are also plans and ideas to extend walking and cycling routes across the Cheshire boundary and link the Eastham Country Park from the southeast section of the Wirral Circular Trail to the Ellesmere Port Boat Museum.
The Wirral Conservation Areas and Heritage Trail
This is a set of suggested routes to either walk, cycle or drive around Wirral and visit the 26 Conservation Areas and the specially selected 40 Heritage Sites, all available here.
The Wirral Walking Festival will be taking place in May: The 2025 Wirral Walking Festival has some new and exciting events. Walking is accessible to all and great for everyone’s health and wellbeing. It is great to try out new areas of Wirral that you might not have explored before.
The 2026 cut off date: From the Countryside and Rights of Way Act of 2000 known as the CROW act and followed up by legislation within the National Environment and Rural Communities NERC Act of 2006, a cut-off date to claim unregistered public rights of way was created as the 1 January 2026. However, On 17 November 2023 it became official that the 2026 cut-off date had been extended by 5 years to January 2031. The government has recently announced that it intends to repeal that date with no cut-off date.
Other long-term aspirations
North Coast Sea Defence Access Road: On the 27 January 2025, the Environment, Climate Emergency and Transport Committee sanctioned our report to revoke old byelaws which paves the way for a Path Creation order along this much used route. The next step is to create a Public Bridleway which will see a form of officialising and defining this route for the benefit of everyone. Details of the current alternative route for cyclists are in the Wirral Circular Trail route booklet via the Birket walk and cycle path.
Heswall – Clatterbridge all user route: the planning of my long-term aspiration for an all-user route connecting east and west Wirral continues. The proposed route uses the Old Clatterbridge Road, the M53 bridge as a Junction 4 alternative and then west using current public rights of way, plus a section field side of the Brimstage Road across to Heswall Station. This would be of great benefit to walkers, cyclists and horse riders, making this cross-Wirral route so much safer. However, spiralling costs keep pushing this ambitious project further down the list!
Bidston Golf Club: matters have not really changed regarding this situation either. Again, awaiting adequate funding to implement our plans regarding the missing link of the Birket walk and cycle path which could take the path around the Golf Course and connect it to the National Cycle Network Route 56 under junction 1 of the M53 and on to Bidston Moss and then to the docks within the Wirral Waters Walk and cycle route schemes.
It's at this point that I (Robin Tutchings) am announcing my retirement later this month in April. As the outgoing Wirral Rights of Way Officer, I have over the years-maintained contact with local and national groups to ensure we are aware of the ‘bigger picture’ affecting our Public Rights of Way, and I am sure my successor will continue that involvement with the following local groups and committees for the benefit of all:
- Wirral Rights of Way User Groups
- Local and Regional Active Travel Pedestrian and Cycle Forums
- The Liverpool City Region Local Access Forum, which despite best efforts, has still not re started since the Pandemic
- IPROW: As a member of The Institute of Public Rights of Way, valuable assistance with access issues on a National and Regional basis via their forum and information database is gained
- ADEPT: Association of Directors of Environment Economy Planning and Transport: as a member of the Northern Region Rights of Way Managers group, Wirral needs to attend their northern region meetings
I would also like to mention that through the council’s Career Progression Pathway initiative, we have all benefitted from the assistance of Dan Smith who started helping with Rights of Way work in October 2021 as a trainee engineer. Dan is now a qualified Engineer within the scheme, so a big thanks to Dan for his continued assistance with all the work he’s been able to progress with.
I would like to think, that with the budgets allowing, we’ve been able to improve the network overall throughout those years, notably putting in the Wirral Circular Trail in 2011 and writing the accompanied 88 page booklet. In 2014 I secured funds to replace most of the wobbly old stiles with kissing gates but also leaving the precious historic stepover sandstone stiles. I would like to wish my successor all the very best in a great role within Wirral Council and long may it continue.
There will be a list of suggested ongoing improvements for the future that will be in my hand over file for my successor.
I have been in post approaching 18 years and it has been a pleasure to work with colleagues within Wirral Council and of course all the landowners, members of various walking, cycling and horse riding groups who are the users of the public rights of way network, so a big thanks to everyone who has helped.
I must also thank our Contractor GBS through our Highways Operational Services and the support I have received from my management all the way up through the ranks, without who’s help, much of the above would be very difficult to achieve. As I would say in my previous career, 'Over and Out!'
Robin Tutchings
Rights of Way Officer
Email: walking@wirral.gov.uk