Town & Country
Objections can take years to be heard, with the footpath remaining in use the whole time
THE latest lockdown has seen fresh confrontation between landowners and the public. The latter have been accused of disrespecting people’s privacy and damaging crops and livestock, with photographs being posted online that show the damage caused by walkers straying off footpaths and onto fields. One farmer in Suffolk, Katherine Cross, posted a photo of a trampled wheat field on Twitter and wrote she is ‘saddened that walkers can’t stick to the bridleway... people can still exercise... by sticking to the path and not trample on crops’.
Some footpaths that have been rarely used for years are suddenly seeing increased footfall, causing stress to property owners who are worried about privacy and social distancing. Several have complained about the difficulty of getting footpaths re-routed or removed and fear their concerns aren’t taken seriously by access groups or local or central government.
Roger Duffin of the Intrusive Footpaths Campaign spoke to Country Life about the difficulty of getting a footpath re-routed on his own land. ‘We have a footpath between our house and garage and the vast majority of people walking on it don’t really want to be there,’ he says. ‘Nobody local uses it regularly, because most ordinary people don’t want to impose on what is a private area. But trying to get a path moved is next to impossible.
‘It’s the injustice of it really,’ he adds. ‘People tend to think if you have a footpath on your land, you’re the lord of your manor with 2,000 acres. But what about farmers with small acreages riddled with footpaths?’ Mr Duffin says he has been trying to get his path moved for at least five years, at a cost of more than £1,200, without success. Country Life has spoken to other landowners who share similar concerns and are increasingly worried about plans by The Ramblers to ‘rediscover’ some 49,000 miles of lost footpaths, which landowners say could lead to footpaths being claimed on private land where they haven’t existed for hundreds of years. One lost path, for example, crosses the runway at Gatwick airport and another traverses a MOD live firing range on Salisbury Plain. Other ‘lost’ paths go through farmyards and private homes.
Landowners and groups are hoping that provisions provided by the Deregulation Act of 2015 will make redirecting paths easier, but Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic have postponed the implementation of the act’s regulations. At present, landowners say, groups such as the Ramblers and the Open Spaces Society can object to an application to have a footpath re-routed or extinguished. These objections can take years to be heard, with the footpath remaining in use the whole time.
‘We’re not anti access, we would like The Ramblers and the other groups to be more collaborative,’ Mr Duffin says. ‘If you put in a request to redirect, [The Ramblers] will fight it. There is guidance that has been written which creates a presumption to extinguish or redirect footpaths away from unsuitable areas. We would like that guidance to be implemented and backed up with legislation. There’s no compromise from the Ramblers, no support to individuals who are suffering. I’ve spent a ludicrous amount of money trying to do things properly, but got nowhere.’
In a statement to Country Life, Tompion Platt, director of advocacy and engagement for The Ramblers, says: ‘We are not looking to put every single lost path back on the map —we are taking a common-sense approach and identifying potential lost rights of way was only the start of the process. We recognise that some of the paths identified by our volunteers will have been legally extinguished or diverted and we don’t want to claim rights of way that go through buildings or runways, or are of no practical use and lead nowhere.
‘With so many unmapped rights of way, we are now focusing on prioritising the paths that are the most useful or important; those that make walking more enjoyable for as many people as possible, which has become more important than ever during the pandemic. This could include paths that resolve dead ends or complete circular walks, creating better connections and providing routes in areas that lack them. We want to work wherever possible with farmers and landowners—many of whom do a fantastic job maintaining paths and welcoming walkers on their land—to reinstate footpaths that make sense, to help to build a better path network and make sure we don’t lose this precious part of our heritage.’