A multimillion-pound project to restore forgotten countryside rights of way is to be scrapped before it has managed to reopen a single ancient footpath, bridleway or sheep-drovers’ track.

Discovering Lost Ways, a £15 million project, was set up by the Government six years ago. The scheme upset landowners and campaigners for greater access to the countryside, who predicted from the start that it would be expensive and ineffective. Even the agency that was charged with turning paths on old maps into modern rights of way admits that the scheme became mired in red tape.

The project is now the responsibility of Natural England, the landscape adviser to the Government. An estimated £4.5 million has been spent on it, mainly in Cheshire and Shropshire, its pilot areas.

It was condemned from the outset by the Country Land and Business Association, which feared that the lost ways would be taken over by trail bikes.

Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, the president of the 36,000-member association, said: “The project has failed to deliver one single route on to the definitive map. There could not be a more damning outcome for this project or a clearer vindication of our arguments.”

He said that the project was based on assumptions about the number of ancient routes that existed and how easy it could be to find and reopen them.

He added: “The routes they sought to rediscover had become lost because they were no longer needed and no longer relevant. If this project is scrapped it will be a major success for common sense and reason. We now need to move on and start tackling the real issues within the access debate.”

Discovering Lost Ways was developed after the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which required all “historic” rights of way to be recorded by 2026 or be lost for ever. Critics say that the cut-off date was unrealistic. Staff searched hundreds of land deeds, maps and agreements, many dating back to the 1800s, for the lost rights of way. All they have to show for almost six years of effort are five pending applications with Cheshire County Council and twenty case files sent to Shropshire County Council.

Amanda Earnshaw, a project manager for the scheme, said: “What should have been a sensible process has got itself mired in bureaucracy. As yet we haven’t got any more rights of way on the map.”

Applications can be bounced between council committee meetings for months and one claim in Yorkshire has reportedly remained unsettled for 15 years.

The Ramblers’ Association, the biggest walking organisation in Britain, criticised the project for not allowing its volunteers to help.

Janet Davis, the rights-of-way policy co-ordinator for the group, blamed the Government for being overambitious. She said: “The whole thing was totally impractical and that impracticality has defeated them.”

The debate about access to the countryside has pitted landowners and farmers against walkers, horse riders and cyclists since the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act in 1949. The Act called for a definitive map of countryside rights of way to be drawn up by parish councils. However, many rural councils were dominated by landowners who were more interested in limiting access. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 allowed members of the public to apply to have rights of way restored.

Mrs Davis said: “If they allowed our volunteers to help with the work far more could be achieved with less money. These rights of way are vital: they keep people healthy and create sustainable transport routes — the whole thing just needs to be handled properly.”

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has accepted a proposal from Natural England to change the project.

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