North Lancashire Bridleways Society

Advice about Bridleways

Access and Regeneration of Bridleways

Ever since the inauguration of NLBS, members have worked hard to try to reopen or improve local bridleways.  We do this in a number of ways, including:

• Supporting local landowners with repairing or installing horse-friendly gates.
• Organising work parties to clear overgrown bridleways.
• Researching lost bridleway routes and applying to have them added onto the Definitive Map.
• Liaising with landowners to secure new permissive routes.
• Running training courses for members on access, rights of way and researching historical routes.

Problems with Bridleways?

All NLBS members are encouraged to act as a Field Officer in their own area and are asked to ride and check the bridleways and notify the Chairman or Secretary of any problems, as we have a good relationship with the County Council and many local landowners. 

If you would like to get involved in our access work, or have encountered a problem locally please get in touch.

Bridleway Research

From 1 January 2026, it will no longer be possible to add rights of way to the legal record (the definitive map) in England and Wales on the basis of historical evidence. Unrecorded routes, many of which go back centuries, need to be identified and claimed before the 2026 cut off so they can be secured for generations to come. 

NLBS is involved in trying to track down multi-use paths which can be accessed by horseriders and cyclists, as well as walkers. These so-called “higher rights of way” are thought to account for about 30 per cent of Lancashire’s 3,500 miles of public footpaths - but only seven per cent of the network has been identified as such.

Can you help?

We have a list which shows the routes we are currently considering for research. Click here to see the list.

If you like to volunteer to help us in the process, please do get in touch. Email us at research@nlbs.org.uk. We also have a document which we can send to you which has details of how to set about conducting the necessary research.

BHS Project 2026

You could also have a look at routes which have been identified on the BHS site.

• If it's coloured red, it's already been submitted;
• if it's mauve/pink – we are on the case;
• but if it's turquoise we could do with some help.

The instructions for getting onto the BHS site are:

1. go to   https://www.bhsaccess.org.uk/dobbin/P2026home.php  ;
2. click on North-West (either map or text);
3. click on Lancashire;
4. If you hover over ‘Get password’ you will be able to see the required password;
5. click on an individual blue dot to see the route details.

It may be that you could help by photographing the track and key features like gates (especially old stone gate posts), fords, bridges, and measuring the width of the track and bridges – that would be especially useful.

Finally, if you think that there's a route that looks like it should be a bridleway but isn't – do get in touch by email to research@nlbs.org.uk