Fifty years on from the Countryside Act 1968, which required local authorities to signpost a public path where it leaves a road, many paths still lack signposts.

The Open Spaces Society, the national conservation body, has called for an end to what it calls a scandal.

The society and the Ramblers were responsible for winning the signposting provision which was enshrined in section 27 of the Countryside Act 1968.  This states that a highway authority (county or unitary council) must erect and maintain a signpost where a public path leaves a metalled road.

The signpost must show the status of the path, and whether it is a footpath (open only to pedestrians), a bridleway (walkers, horse-riders and cyclists) or a byway (open also to mechanically-propelled vehicles).

Lucy Wilson, the OSS local correspondent for North Cornwall, said: “Signposts are important because they give people the confidence to use and enjoy public paths, which are public rights of way and highways in law.  Here in Cornwall, which depends on the tourist industry, it is even more vital that paths should be easy to find.

“Although paths are marked on Ordnance Survey maps, many people are deterred from using them if there is no indication that a route is a public path.  In any case, paths can be closed or moved making the maps out of date.

“Without a signpost, a path can be a well-kept secret, and we are dismayed to find that there are still many missing signposts.”

The Ramblers’ Big Pathwatch survey in 2015 revealed that lack of signposts and waymarks was one of the biggest problems, with about 9,000 signposts reported as missing where paths leave metalled roads in England and Wales—despite the legal duty on local authorities to provide and maintain them.