A legal loophole at the heart of Britain’s most famous illegally blocked footpath case, Framfield 9, the ‘van Hoogstraten footpath’, was recently closed by the passing of the Highways (Obstruction by Body Corporate) Bill through both Houses of Parliament.
The Bill, a Private Members Bill introduced by Michael Foster MP for Hastings and Rye, with full cross-party support, amends the Highways Act 1980 to ensure that legal proceedings can now be brought against directors, officers or members of a ‘body corporate’ that wilfully obstructs a public footpath or bridleway.
Previously, when finding someone guilty of obstructing a public footpath, the Magistrates court had the power to order the removal of obstructions by a certain date, and then to impose fines if the obstruction wasn’t removed by that date.
The ‘van hoogstraten’ case at Framfield 9 highlighted an important legal loophole in the law, however. There was nothing to stop a ‘paper’ company being created to control the land through which the public footpath ran. The courts had no powers to enforce compliance or extract fines from such a company, allowing the true landowner to hide behind the veil of incorporation.
In the case of Framfield 9, Nicholas van Hoogstraten transferred the land into the ownership of a company called Rarebargin Ltd before the first prosecution for obstructing the public footpath. Rarebargin Ltd. was repeatedly fined tens of thousands of pounds for non-compliance with an original magistrates order to remove the obstruction, but there was no means of enforcing the fines against a limited company.
Thanks to Michael Fosters’ Private Members Bill the officers of such a company would now be personally liable for fines incurred. This small measure will significantly strengthen the powers to enforce the public’s right to use the nation’s footpaths and bridleways, against those like Nicholas van Hoogstraten who would seek to oppress it.
