Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to (a) make footpaths more accessible to people with restricted mobility and (b) create new footpaths to connect places and communities.

Public rights of way are a local matter and are handled by individual local highway authorities.

Local authorities are required to keep a Rights of Way Improvement Plan (ROWIP) to plan improvements to their network. The expectation is for local authorities, whenever possible, to look at the needs of all users, including where possible to provide specific improvements for a range of users with limited mobility including wheelchair users and those with young children in pushchairs.