It is not an offence to cycle along a footpath but it a trespass against the owner. It's a civil offence, not criminal. As I stated in post #2, any 'proceedings' would be a civil matter between the owner and the cyclist(s), and of concern to nobody else. Good luck in this modern age with 'taking a cyclist to court' to prove trespass
The kissing gate idea seems to be a good one - except that our local PROW officers want to see more and more access for the disabled where new or replacement 'structures' are concerned
HK
Well, as our local RoW Officer is possibly the biggest waste of space in a public official that I have ever seen, I would say the chance of him being a problem is minimal...