I suppose it depends on what they do next. The (helpful) person I was talking to a couple of months ago has left the role, and I'm not yet sure how the new people will treat it. Their e-mail signature says that they work Wednesday-Friday so it'll be at least a couple of days before I hear back.

If the council insist that the routes are closed and replace the signs, then "permissive" doesn't seem right. However, I don't think it's reasonable that the paths are closed in the first place (at least for cyclists and pedestrians). I've asked them to explain the "risk to public safety" because your account (and others) reveals nothing of the sort.

For the access side of things, I've been leaving notes on CycleScape: https://www.cyclescape.org/threads/6520