Sir – Recently, I was on a walk in the Yelford, Aston, Bampton and Lew area. While the weather and company were good, the walk was spoiled by stiles in poor or, in some cases, dangerous condition, gaps in hawthorn hedges narrowed and overgrown, and crops in fields planted over the lines of paths.

No doubt the county council’s countryside service is under pressure to reduce its costs, but this should not be done at the expense of abandoning its prime duty of ensuring rights of way are safe, clear and usable.

Clearly no enforcement action has been for many years against landowners for infringements of the Highways Act in this area, and it is difficult to believe there can have been even a cursory visit by any official in the last couple of years.

Now the situation has become apparent, I trust the county council will initiate urgent remedial action.

Frank Bland, Oxford