Hi Bernard,
I think OpenStreetMaps has a slight problem with regard to UK PRoWs: they are treated in the same way as a physical feature, e.g. a track, when in fact they are legal constructs, not physical. For example a track can have legal status as e.g. a public bridleway, but still be a track, if that makes sense. There should be some way of overlaying the rights of way information on the map to indicate a physical feature’s legal access status. That is why I try to use the (formally unapproved) tag designation= to indicate a PRoW.

Regards,
JB - twospeed