National Walking Charity Wins Victory For Walkers Everywhere
[20 June 2007]
The Ramblers’ Association (RA) has today (20 June 2007) won a
major victory for walkers everywhere in a landmark House of
Lords ruling. The national walking charity went to the highest
court in the land and challenged the iniquitous judgment which
made it unjustly easy for landowners to deny the existence of
rights of way by using hidden evidence to make them private.
The House of Lords agreed to overturn a ruling, which allowed
landowners to use evidence, which had not been made public, for
example letters to solicitors or even private conversations, to
imply they intended the footpaths to be private. This meant that
members of the public could waste months proving the existence
of a public right of way, only to be defeated by evidence about
which they knew nothing.
So even after 20 years of public use, hidden or private
information often defeated important footpath claims.
Janet Davis, Rights of Way Policy Co-ordinator, at the RA, said:
“This is a landmark ruling which will mean that actions to stop
paths being recognised as public rights of way must be
transparent. Their Lordships have thoroughly re-examined the law
on how rights of way are established, reverting to Lord
Denning's statement of the law which had stood for more than
forty years unchallenged. Recent interpretations had meant that
members of the public were wasting months making claims for
paths which were defeated by evidence which was not in the
public domain.”
She added: “Many footpaths are heavily used but we only
appreciate them when they are under threat. Some are key links
in the transport network, many are our escape routes when we
want to get out into the countryside for some peace and quiet
and are the cheapest gym in the country. It is very important
that they are protected for everyone to use.”