Draft plans for the long-term maintenance of the island’s footpaths and green lanes will be published later this year.

Speaker of the House of Keys and Rushen MHK Juan Watterson tabled a Tynwald question for Infrastructure Minister Ray Harmer on the upkeep of public rights of way.

His question came as budget cuts at the Department of Infrastructure were blamed for sections of the Raad ny Foillan, the coastal footpath, becoming overgrown and near-impassable.

The Examiner highlighted the issue on August 8.

The Celtic League’s Mannin branch described this as a ’failure of joined up government’ given that Department of Economic Development actively promotes the Raad ny Foillan as a must-do attraction for visiting walkers

In his written reply, the Infrastructure Minister said his department is committed to the maintenance of 196 miles of Manx public rights of way.

He said: ’A draft document prepared by the department, which will be published this year, covers long term maintenance plans for the PROW [public rights of way] and green lanes over a 10-year period.’

Mr Harmer said the DoI currently has a limited budget for maintenance work and the standards of maintenance are linked to the money available.

He said: ’The long term maintenance plan will identify the priority routes which will be the focus of future maintenance work and budget.’

Mr Harmer said that if a local authority wished to carry out maintenance work at its own cost, the DoI would be happy to support this as long as the work was commissioned and managed to the appropriate standards.

’Of course in many places there is an obligation on adjacent landowners to ensure PROW are appropriately maintained,’ he added.