From: kempshott@invalid.uk 
  
 On 01/08/2025 15:54, Roger Hayter wrote: 
 > On 1 Aug 2025 at 15:27:26 BST, "Jon Ribbens"  
 > wrote: 
 > 
 >> On 2025-08-01, Martin Brown <'''newspam'''@nonad.co.uk> wrote: 
 >>> On 31/07/2025 18:34, Roland Perry wrote: 
 >>>> In message , at 13:36:35 on Thu, 31 
 >>>> Jul 2025, Kempshott  remarked: 
 >>>>> Does a Local Authority have a statutory duty to keep its online 
 >>>>> definitive map up to date? 
 >>>>> 
 >>>>> Ours still says "last update March 2021" and there have been many 
 >>>>> Modification Orders passed since then. 
 >>>> 
 >>>> I bet there's a lot of pre-2021 changes not on it either. I've had cause 
 >>>> to look at these maps in the past, and they are often woefully out of 
 date. 
 >>> 
 >>> It is pot luck what is and what is not included on the definitive maps. 
 >>> 
 >>> I suspect form the name that they are supposed to be maintained but if 
 >>> you know an area well it isn't hard to find recent changes that are 
 >>> missing. Updating them doesn't seem to be a high priority. 
 >> 
 >> There's either two possibilities, and I think the answer could be either 
 >> depending on which local authority it is. 
 >> 
 >> Either it isn't "the Definitive Map" at all, it's just an online map, 
 >> in which case I would expect there's no statutory duty to update it. 
 >> It might claim to reflect information from the Definitive Map, but 
 >> that doesn't make it definitive itself. 
 >> 
 >> Or, it is "the Definitive Map", in which case it is, er, definitive. 
 >> If it shows a right of way exists, then it does, and if it doesn't, 
 >> it doesn't. If they haven't updated it to show rights of way that 
 >> the council intended to create, then they haven't created them. 
 > 
 > I agree that this is the apparent legal situation. But it may be that a 
 third 
 > possibility exists: that the 'definitive map' actually exists in a state 
 which 
 > entails an old map and a set of approved amendments to it which together 
 > constitutes the 'definitive map'. It is not impossible that a court would 
 > accept this as the least worst interpretation. 
 > 
 > 
 The council website says "The publication of a new Definitive Map has 
 been a priority for the Council, and this was achieved when the first 
 digital version of the Map was published on the 12 March 2021". 
  
 That's followed by a link to maps.arcgis.com and the map is titled 
 "Definitive Map of Public Rights of Way" so it seems to be "the" 
 definitive map, just rather out-of-date. 
  
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