Riders are frustrated by pathway progress rate
HORSE RIDERS in Calderdale are still unable to use a rural pathway with legal processes reining in progress.
Last autumn Calderdale Council had informed local riding groups who raised the issue that a cattle grid, which had illegally been placed on a section of Hanging Stones Lane at Ripponden 40 years earlier, would be removed.
Riders welcomed the news and hoped they would soon be able to use the route, which they have also made subject of a bid to reclassify it as a restricted byway, meaning they could use it.
But an official for the Moorlands Riding Group, who did not wish to be named, said the grid was still there, with some concrete infill over part of it but still unsuitable for horses to pass along the lane.
She claimed residents close by have approached the council to ask that the cattle grid remain, retaining their privacy, and because of this pressure the council had put off the removal of the grid.
The officer called this a
“delaying tactic” to prevent horse riders from using the route, and has submitted a formal complaint to the council. She says her next step will be to take it to the Local Government Ombudsman.
“The council is now using our separate attempts to have the lane correctly recorded as a bridleway or restricted byway as an excuse not to remove the cattle grid and, though related, in law the two issues are totally separate,” she said.
However, Calderdale Council’s Cabinet member for Regeneration and Strategy, Coun Jane Scullion, said the issue is legally complex.
She said: “The council is investigating the application to modify the recorded status of the public footpath, Ripponden 51, known as Hanging Stones Lane, to a restricted byway.
“There are complex legal processes involved in any decision to change the status of a public right of way.
“These things take time and it is important that all of the proper legal processes are followed and that local landowners are consulted,” added Coun Scullion (Lab, Luddenden Foot)
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