Public Footpaths and Cycle Paths – Length

Please provide data for the Exeter urban area, together with two or more other major urban areas in Devon for comparison purposes. Can you provide information for any 2 of the following in descending order of preference?

Newton Abbot
Tiverton
Barnstaple
Exmouth

1. length of pedestrian only footpaths

Devon County Council believes compliance with this request would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time. This is because In order to comply with this request we would have to download all of the footpaths in the urban areas listed, and find out where on the boundary of each urban area each footpath terminated.

In the interests of providing advice and assistance, this Devon County Council webpage has maps of the public rights of way, from which measurements could be calculated.

2. length of pedestrian only footways (pavements)

Exeter – 1,098,440 metres

Newton Abbot – 268,336 metres

Barnstaple – 219,452 metres

3. length of shared cycle/walkers footpaths

Devon County Council (DCC) believes compliance with this request would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time because DCC does not have a category of shared cycle/walkers footpath in its records of its network, and would need to look at each route individually in turn to find the information requested. 

In the interests of providing advice and assistance, please see the table below for information on the different rights of way. The descriptors in the table below reflect how Devon County Council keeps records on the network.

4. length of shared cycle/walkers footways

Devon County Council (DCC) believes compliance with this request would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time because DCC does not have a category of shared cycle/walkers footways in its records of its network, and would need to look at each route individually in turn to find the information requested. 

In the interests of providing advice and assistance, please see the table below for information on the different rights of way. The descriptors in the table below reflect how Devon County Council keeps records on the network.

5. length of advisory (dashed white line) on road cycleway

Devon County Council (DCC) believes compliance with this request would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time because DCC does not have a category of advisory (dashed white line) on road cycleway in its records of its network, and would need to look at each route individually in turn to find the information requested. 

In the interests of providing advice and assistance, please see the table below for information on the different rights of way. The descriptors in the table below reflect how Devon County Council keeps records on the network.

6. length of mandatory (white line) on road cycleway

Devon County Council (DCC) believes compliance with this request would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time because DCC does not have a category of mandatory (white line) on road cycleways in its records of its network, and would need to look at each route individually in turn to find the information requested. 

In the interests of providing advice and assistance, please see the table below for information on the different rights of way. The descriptors in the table below reflect how Devon County Council keeps records on the network.

Type Total length (km) Exeter Barnstaple Exmouth Newton Abbot Tiverton

Traffic-free routes

Permitting walking, cycling.

362 92 26 14 11 10

On-road cycle lanes

These on road cycle lanes are dashed lines or solid lines on trafficked roads.

53 30 10 1 1 1

Advisory cycle routes

These are essentially connecting routes (to existing traffic free paths, or key locations in urban areas.)They are situated on ordinary highway, some have pavements for pedestrians, others have not but all are deemed suitable to accommodate walking and cycling.

809 67 39 19 13 30

Bridleways

Allowing walking, cycling

1,219 8 1 0 1 9

Byways

Allowing walking, cycling

114 0 0 0 1 0
Total 2,556 197 76 34 26 51
Total excl Rights of Way 1,224 189 75 34 24 41

Please note that some of the routes in the below table may be slightly outside (or on the fringes of) the main settlements.

The table provides a breakdown of the lengths of each type of cycle route by settlement, and figures showing rights of way which can be used by cyclists (i.e. bridleways and byways).

Advisory routes are mostly low trafficked roads, linking long distance routes, such as the Devon Coast to Coast route, or Wray Valley Trail or Exe Estuary Trail with traffic free sections. Other advisory routes will be in urban areas where we link existing off road infrastructure a network of ‘low traffic’ roads to form a consistent network.

We do not currently have a category showing the segregated cycle route that has recently been completed in Exeter (E4 route along Cumberland Way and the segregated cycle route along Sweetbrier Lane).

7. length of off road/dedicated cycleway (could be at road edge but level change or kerb provides protection)

Devon County Council does not yet record separate detail regarding this, but has two segregated routes: the E4 route along Cumberland Way and Exhibition Way in Exeter and a short section along Sweetbrier Lane between Honiton Road and Vaughan Road in Exeter.