Hello,
Andy from OSM's Data Working Group here.  We're aware that there's been a bit of an "edit war" here (see https://osm.mapki.com/history/way/1086252957 for the to an fro tagging).  In cases such as this, where a path really is closed due to e.g. erosion control, then I'd suggest tagging as "disused:highway=footway" rather than just deleting the highway tag (someone may add it back thinking they have fixed an "error")  See 
https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/678188487/history for a similar example over in Yorkshire.
Obviously, (per the comments at https://www.openstreetmap.org/changeset/135709994#c1025020 ) if this path isn't actually closed, then "highway=footway" is entirely appropriate, but other tags (sac_scale and trail_visibility are already present) might be relevant.
Best Regards,
Andy
