A third of Britain's footpaths are almost impassable, the Ramblers Association has warned.

It claimed poor maintenance is putting off tourists and walkers, jeopardising the £6 billion they bring to the rural economy.

Forum Response: Country Land and Business Association

Richard Jarman, spokesman for the CLA, told ePolitix.com: "The CLA does not condone obstructions of rights-of-way and we recognise that landowners are generally meant to maintain stiles.

"However the CLA makes the point that monies should be placed not only into opening up paths but in managing them. For example, it can prove very time-consuming and difficult to secure a diversion of a path to avoid a farmyard, a problem highlighted by foot and mouth disease crisis.

"In addition, local authority resources are having to be expended on pointless tasks; it is practically impossible to extinguish a redundant path (ie. not used in generations and not serving any useful purpose), as the user organisation's object to such applications on principle. This results in time and monies being wasted.

"Further, additional monies have to be expended by the local authorities on opening up paths which were rights-of-way generations ago, even if not used for hundreds of years, due to the adage 'once a highway always a highway'.

"All this takes up the resources which could be used to open up and maintain paths that fulfil a modern need."

Forum Response: National Farmers Union

Dr Andrew Clark, chief rural development and countryside adviser at the NFU, told ePolitix.com: "The NFU has long recognised that footpaths provide a vital resource in rural areas, both for those who live and work in the countryside and, especially, those who visit.

"The FMD crisis demonstrated the financial value of the network and the cost of closure. Farmers, the NFU and the Ramblers Association worked effectively together nationally and locally during the crisis to ensure users and farmers' concerns were fully considered.

"We note that the association's research finds that obstructions to the network affect about a third of footpaths. This finding is broadly in line with the Countryside Agency's own survey of local highway authorities published last year. Solutions to such problems must be found that answer both farmers' land management concerns and the legal rights of users.

"The association highlights that shortage of local authority funds is causing many of the problems recorded, whether infracture (poor or no signage) or a lack of advice and enforcement. We support the Ramblers Association's lobby for new resources for this key area of work, especially with next year's planned launch of the right of access to 1.4 million hectares of open country."