Yellow road changed to white road (FOI231151)

Thank you for your email of 11 May 2023, and your email of 13 May 2023, requesting information from Ordnance Survey in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000, as set out in the extracts below:

Email of 11 May 2023

Please refer to Error Reporting Tool TT:004998603, outcome included below.

When I use my OS Maps app on my phone I note you have recently changed the depiction of this road from yellow to white ie uncoloured. Please explain the reasoning as to why you have changed the depiction of the road in question.(USRN 232113500)

When I look back over many years of OS maps the road is coloured yellow as is the road it connects to and is of similar character.(USRN 23219575). There has been no change to the character of the road. So why change its depiction now?

In addition please provide any correspondence with the Highway Authority on this issue plus any internal OS correspondence and/or file notes, emails etc.

The reason this is important to the public is yellow depicted roads are generally always public highways with use/access for MPVs and other users but white (uncoloured) roads are not always public highways. Had you added ORPA dots to the white road the status would have been confirmed.

Please also explain why you have not added ORPA dots when changing the depiction from yellow to white.

Your response to my error report was:

Unfortunately, on this occasion, this isn't something we can fix

12979 Incorrect road designation

Reference number: 12979

Status: Not to product specification

Thank you for getting in touch.

Unfortunately, this falls outside of our product specification, and does not constitute an error in our data, so we'll not be making a change.

When reviewing your request our team said:

"This is shown correct to the current 25k and 50k specification as a white other road, drive or track."

Thanks, OS Errors & Omissions Team”

Email of 13 May 2023

“I have realised another factor in this matter.

If you look at point SO 367 304 where the ORPA dots change to yellow prior to the change of depiction, and now change to white uncoloured, two footpaths join the road at this point. If you are walking either path you can no longer turn north east as a white road may not be public, your designation "white other road, drive or track" removes the confidence that the road is public highway, unless you overlay ORPA dots. Unless of course, you can say white roads are public highways which you will not. For example the private tracks from this same point to farms and businesses are also shown in white.”

I confirm that Ordnance Survey does hold some of the information you have requested. Where the information is not held this is stated.

Our responses are set out below to the questions raised in your emails:

Email of 11 May 2023

1. Please explain the reasoning as to why you have changed the depiction of the road in question

Following an internal review of the depiction of the road, because of a customer enquiry in December 2020, the yellow road, you refer to in your request, was investigated and subsequently removed, and is now shown depicted in our mapping as a white road, in accordance with our specification, and a small section of ORPA (Other Roads with Public Access).

A copy of the specification for yellow and white (uncoloured) roads was provided to you in a previous FOI response under reference FOI-21-1017 in July 2021.

2. There has been no change to the character of the road. So why change its depiction now?

See the response provided to question 1 and 3.

3. Please provide any correspondence with the Highway Authority on this issue plus any internal OS correspondence and/or file notes, emails etc.

I confirm that we do not hold any correspondence with the Highway Authority or any other information you have requested in relation to the change of the depiction of the road from yellow to white.

However, under the duty to provide information and assistance in accordance with section 16 of FOIA, we can provide the following information which may assist you in this matter:

As detailed at question 1 above we received a customer enquiry in December 2020, details of which are held in Dynamics our Case Management System.

The extract below sets out the information the customer provided to us regarding the road in question in December 2020:

“is open to the public and an unclassified road on the Hereford County Council list of streets, has a tarmacked surface and in frequent use by traffic

4. Please also explain why you have not added ORPA dots when changing the depiction from yellow to white.

I confirm that Ordnance Survey does not hold the information you have requested.

However, under the duty to provide information and assistance in accordance with section 16 of FOIA, we can provide the following information which may assist you in this matter:

We do not have a routine update mechanism in place to maintain the currency of ORPAs, OS may receive notification from a Local authority when changes have been made to public rights of way and they would like ORPAs added; however, OS retain full editorial rights on ORPAs.

In this instance, having investigated this we are happy to add the ORPA referred to in your request.

Email of 13 May 2023

We do not consider your email of the 13 May 2023, to be a valid request for information under section 8 of the FOIA, instead it appears to be making a statement. For a request to be valid it must be a request for recorded information.