A popular Berkshire path, fundamental to securing public access to footpaths around the country, has this week been recorded as an official right of way after a fourteen year battle which involved a public inquiry and three court cases.
The 80 year-old path at Aldworth and Streatley, West Berkshire, provides crucial access to a wide network of paths and circular routes in the popular Thames Valley walking area. The disputed path is one of two used nationally, in pioneering test cases, to overturn an unpopular 2004 High Court decision that dramatically limited public access rights. The Secretary of State’s decision to designate the path an official public right of way this week, has been hailed as ‘a victory for walkers everywhere’.
The fourteen year campaign began in 1994 when Dr Drain of the Ramblers’ Association applied to claim the well-used path as an official right of way on the grounds that it had been popularly used route for 75 years. Landowner, Yattendon Estates, disputed the application claiming that gamekeepers had repeatedly challenged walkers who used the path, proving that they never intended to dedicate the path for public use. At the subsequent public inquiry, a Government Inspector turned down Dr Drain’s application – despite finding that the volume and longevity of public use was so high that it supported the principle of locally presumed dedication - because a private tenancy agreement existed between the landowner and two tenants stipulating that tenants “could not allow any footpaths to be created”. Although the town council and other members of the public could not have known about this private agreement, the inspector was bound by an unpopular 1999 High Court ruling to conclude that such an agreement showed that the landowner had no intention to dedicate the path as a public right of way.
The Ramblers’ Association used the ‘Drain’ case to try to overturn this 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 Divisional 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 Aldworth and Streatley case was then reconsidered by the Inspector and on the 29th May 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.’
