After reading this forum topic and commenting that the United Kingdom part wasn’t great because it didn’t consider the different rules in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, I wondered “what should the defaults actually be for England and Wales?”.

Of that table, I think that the rows down to living_street are correct, and of the remaining rows the columns across to moped are also correct. I decided to pick a couple of areas I’m familiar with (one urban, one rural) and look for examples in those areas without explicit access tagging. Based on that it should be possible to suggest some sensible defaults.

path

The default of no for everything through to moped is correct, which leaves horse, bicycle and foot.

path, horse, urban

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4E

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4G

Mostly these ways are foot=permissive, and there’s no horse signage. In some of the parks horses might be tolerated; elsewhere likely not. This suggests horse=no here.

path, horse, rural

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4I

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4H

Mostly these ways are foot=permissive or =yes, and there’s no horse signage. In some of the parks horse access might be =permissive; in most cases not. This suggests horse=no for these as well.

path, bicycle, urban

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4J

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4K

Mostly these ways are foot=permissive. In a large number bicycle access is explicitly disallowed.

path, bicycle, rural

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4L

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4M

Mostly these ways are foot=permissive or =yes, and on some (but not as many as the urban ones) bicycle access is explicitly disallowed. However there are also some designated “public bridleways” which should be tagged bicycle=yes but are not, perhaps because bicycle access is legal but implausible

path, foot, urban

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4O

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4N

Mostly these ways are foot=permissive. Some may be private

path, foot, rural

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4P

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4Q

Mostly these ways are foot=permissive. Some may be private

bridleway, horse, urban

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4R

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P52

There are only a few of these; most should be horse=yes (although perhaps slightly impractical), a smaller number horse=permissive.

bridleway, horse, rural

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4U

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4V

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4W

The vast majority should be horse=yes, a smaller number horse=permissive.

bridleway, bicycle, urban

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4X

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P4Z

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P50

Most should be bicycle=yes, some =permissive.

bridleway, bicycle, rural

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P53

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P54

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P55

The vast majority should be bicycle=yes, a smaller number bicycle=permissive or bicycle=no.

bridleway, foot, urban

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P58

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P59

The few that there are should be foot=yes.

bridleway, foot, rural

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5b

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5e

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5f

All should be foot=yes I think.

cycleway, horse, urban

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5i

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5y

Mostly these ways are foot=permissive, and there’s no horse signage. In some of the parks horses might be tolerated; elsewhere likely not.

cycleway, horse, rural

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5v

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5w

Very few of these; those that there are are likely horse=yes or horse=permissive.

cycleway, bicycle, urban

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5x

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5T

Mostly these should be bicycle=yes; a couple perhaps =permissive.

cycleway, bicycle, rural

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5A

Very few of these; those that there are are likely bicycle=yes.

cycleway, foot, urban

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5S

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5U

Mostly these should be foot=yes; a couple perhaps =permissive.

cycleway, foot, rural

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5V

Very few of these; those that there are are likely foot=yes.

footway

Of the values on that line, I believe that defaulting to “no” for motorcar through bicycle is correct. That just leaves us “foot” to think about:

footway, foot, urban

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5F

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5G

Most of these are foot=yes; some are foot=permissive.

footway, foot, rural

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5H

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5J

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5K

Most of these are foot=yes; some are foot=permissive.

pedestrian

Of the values on that line, I believe that defaulting to “no” for motorcar through bicycle is correct. That just leaves us “foot” to think about:

pedestrian, foot, urban

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5M

The vast majority of these are foot=yes; the rest perhaps foot=permissive.

pedestrian, foot, rural

https://overpass-turbo.eu/s/1P5O

This is basically not a thing in rural areas.

which means:

            horse  bicycle  foot
path        no     no       permissive
bridleway   yes    yes      yes
cycleway    no     yes      yes
footway     no     no       yes
pedestrian  no     no       yes

What would be interesting to know is whether people agree - both in this area and in other urban and rural areas in England and Wales.