[2024] UKUT 320 (AAC)

The Appellant conducts rights of way research in relation to Kent on a voluntary basis on behalf of the British Horse Society. For this purpose, he needs high quality copies of individual tithe maps. As at September 2021, he had researched more than thirty ancient parishes in Kent and intended to research more. He says the research calls for frequent reference to the tithe maps prepared for parishes in Kent under the Tithe Act 1836; extracts from the maps may be required for inclusion in applications to record or upgrade rights of way made to the Council; the Council holds the vast majority of the maps in its records office; there are about 425 maps; with the benefit of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £310,000 in or around 1997, the Council has restored and digitised the maps. The Appellant told us in the hearing that he looks for various information in the maps which might indicate an unrecorded right of way, for example a route coloured in sienna might, taken together with other information, indicate an unrecorded right of way.