Other Routes with Public Access

Local highway authorities in England and Wales supply you with lists of publicly maintainable unsealed roads in order that you can show these on maps as ‘other routes with public access’ or ORPAs.

1.  Can you please tell me the year in which you started collecting this data, and the cycle on which it is updated?

2. Can we please request a copy of each authority’s return in a specified year, or the years next before and next after that specified year if there was no return in that year?

I refer to your letter dated 19^th June 2011.  We respond to your questions in turn, as follows:

1. Ordnance Survey began publishing ORPA information from Local Authorities from 1997, following a collection exercise which involved our surveyors visiting every local authority and accessing their records.  As this exercise took place in the offices of each local authority, as it was conducted by Ordnance Survey and rather than by submission from the Local Authorities, and as all of the resulting information has now been published on the OS Explorer Map series, Ordnance Survey holds no records from this initial collection exercise.

There is no cycle for updating ORPA routes, as they very rarely change.

2. It is not possible for Ordnance Survey to provide copies of returns for any year since 1997 as we do not receive annual or cyclic returns from any Highway Authority, and any ad hoc communication on ORPAs from Highways Authorities are not retained once the relevant information has been transferred to the appropriate Ordnance Survey map.  We only have one submission in our possession at present – from Surrey County Council, which was supplied to us in May 2011 to assist us in responding to a public enquiry.

Please note your enquiry has been processed according to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.  If you are unhappy with our response, you may raise an appeal to our Appeals Officer at:

FOI Appeals Officer
Customer Service Centre
Ordnance Survey
Adanac Drive
Southampton
SO16 0AS

Please include the reference number below.  The Appeals Officer will ensure that the process has been followed correctly, questioning any decisions taken regarding the original response and recommending the disclosure of additional information if appropriate.

Thank you for your enquiry.

Reference number: FOI11191/June 2011