After I received complaints from members of the public last week I asked the council's Public Rights of Way (PROW) officer to carry out an inspection of the coastal footpaths from Crimdon to Blackhall Colliery. Please go to the article published on Tuesday 4 July for background details: https://robcrute-blackhall.blogspot.com/2023/07/overgrown-coastal-footpaths.html
I have now received confirmation from the PROW officer that those coastal footpaths maintained by the county council have been inspected and that works requests have been submitted to the maintenance team for overgrowth to be cut back where necessary. These requests have been added to the works programme and will be carried out as soon as possible.
** Following additional queries about the extent of the council's responsibility to maintain certain footpaths in the coastal area I've received the following update from the PROW team:
'Please note that some of these paths are only permissive routes which hold no formal status, we aren’t obliged
to have these sections cut however I know how well used the paths are in the
area and I have therefore submitted the permissive routes for a cut so that
access is not lost during the Summer months.'
