Waste Dumping and FlyTipping

It can only get worse when local councils, as my one is, are going to withdraw collection of garden waste unless we pay extra for the service.

It has got worse since our concil started charging for garden waste collection,as it seems the bins are quite mobile which allows some householders to dump their garden waste on public footpaths, which then the council clear as they are obliged by law to clear footpaths of "fly tipping"

 We have a wonderful scheme in our little seaside town.  Although the local authority still collect garden and food waste, a local allotment society also come round every Monday and collect garden waste in the old big green bags the local authority used to provide before they went over to wheelie bins.

They then compost it and use it on their allotments and what is left over is available for collection - free of charge - to the local community.

Perfect re-cycling and everyone benefits.

Although we do compost a fair amount we also pay £35/year for our garden waste to be collected, a small price to pay.  The worst offenders are unlicensed builders (?) who dump all sort of hazardous waste all over the country cos they want to save a few quid.  Be aware if you employ one of these cowboys who subsequently fly tip you could be liable to prosecution and clean up costs

I wonder if you mean Rights of Way rather than Public Footpaths? Owners of rights of way like ourselves use garden clippings to build up the paths which are subject to frequent wear and tear by users. We can hear one or two people grumbling about it as they walk along (probably expecting tarmac in the countryside ) but it has been a an excellent way to preserve the paths in our locality. Better to recycle in this way than expect the council to pay to do it at a depot.

Public footpaths are normally in more formal settings like parks etc. But Rights of Way, often mis-labelled as public footpaths, all have owners who have to keep them in good repair to allow access. 

To go further, I suspect that I will not be alone in making use of bonfires to dispose of this waste.

The resultant greenhouse gasses are not likely to help the planet's overall situation.

So be it!

The paths are just signposted footpath or also bridleways that are around us as we have numerouse livery stables in the area

Same here JVB. Never seen a path signposted right of way, although it is a designation on maps. 

All the ones round here are either labelled footpath or bridleway and they are certainly not in formal settings.

But they'll probably be rights of way and owned by someone other than the LA, hence some owners repair the paths with garden clippings, hedge trimmings etc. If there is any other type of "fly tipping" on rights of way, bridleways etc it's up to the owners to clear it up. If the council are asked to do this, the bill can be sent to the unlucky rights of way owner. JVB may not realise this, but it's a fact of rights of way ownership. It's normal procedure to find out who owns the path before any costs are incurred by the LA.

The majority of paths/bridleways in our part of the county,will be kept clear by either the borough or county council, and a phone call or e-mail normally get results within couple of days of notifications as we are in a conservation area,and the local ancient woods full of centuries old trees and left over very old trees from the original estates and  some of which we still have, Knebworth and Hatfield houses are the two most known and are all very anti rubbish and we are between the two ,with Brocket Hall to the west,where we live were the grounds of Digswell House (  now apartments) and to the east the other side of town is built on the Panshanger House grounds now all gone