House of Lords ruling puts path firmly on the map
03 March 2008
A Cambridgeshire path instrumental in securing public access
rights to footpaths around the country, has finally been
recognised as a public right of way after an eight year battle
which included a public inquiry, three court hearings and a
breakthrough House of Lords ruling.
The disputed footpath which falls on Church Commission land at
Monks Pit, near Godmanchester in Cambridgeshire, has been
recognised as a public right of way by a government inspector on
the grounds that locals have used the path for more than 20
years.
The eight year campaign began in 1999 when a fence was erected
across this well-used footpath by the landowner, the Church
Commissioners, prompting Godmanchester Town Council to apply to
have the route added to the legal record of public rights of
way, the ‘definitive map’. At the subsequent public inquiry, the
government inspector found that she could not confirm the order
because a letter existed from the Church Commissioners to the
county council which complained of pedestrian trespass. Although
the town council and other members of the public could not have
known about this letter, the inspector was bound by earlier
court rulings to conclude that such a letter showed that the
landowner had no intention to dedicate the path as a public
right of way.
The Ramblers’ Association used the Godmanchester case to try to
overturn this case law, which had been making it unfairly easy
for landowners to stop paths being recognised as public rights
of way. This meant hearings in the High Court, the Court of
Appeal and, ultimately, the House of Lords. Finally, in June of
last year, five Law Lords delivered a landmark ruling which
means that, in future, actions to stop paths being recognised as
public rights of way will have to be transparent. The
Godmanchester case was then reconsidered by the Inspector and on
14 February she confirmed the order.
Janet Davis, Rights of Way Policy Coordinator at the Ramblers’
Association said ‘The fight to save this one path has secured
the future of many others, right across England and Wales, which
will benefit the entire walking public. The Ramblers’
Association is indebted to everyone who supported us in taking
the case to the highest court in the land.’
1The law was always understood to be that if the general public used a path freely for twenty years or more then a public right of way was created. The exception to this was when a landowner put up a sign saying ‘no right of way’, or locked gates or ordered the public off the footpath. Through these actions, which made his intention clear to the public, the route remained private. But in 1999 the High Court ruled that a landowner could, even after 20 years of uncontested public use, defeat a claim that a right of way had come into existence by producing evidence of virtually any sort of which the public were totally unaware - for example, letters to his solicitor, directions to staff to keep people off the path and so on. Indeed, a mere retrospective assertion by a landowner that he never intended a path to become public seemed sufficient to defeat a claim.