'Van Hoogstraten' footpath being opened up [10 Feb 2003]
The country's most notorious blocked footpath, the 'van Hoogstraten' path at Framfield in East Sussex, is finally being re-opened.
THE COUNTRY'S most notorious blocked footpath, the 'van Hoogstraten' path at Framfield in East Sussex,
is finally being re-opened for public use.
In a stunning victory for walkers, demolition squads moved in on Monday, 10 February to remove obstacles that have blocked the right of way for 13 years. The Ramblers' Association was there to cut the wire and the padlock on locked gates while heavy machines removed concrete pillars and old fridges illegally placed on the path.
The path runs across land owned by Rarebargain Ltd., a company associated with property tycoon Nicholas van
Hoogstraten.
Barbed wire, padlocked gates, refrigeration units and a barn have illegally obstructed the path for 13 years. The local authority, East Sussex County Council, has a duty to keep the route clear of obstructions. Instead of forcing the landowner to clear the obstructions, and contrary to their stated policy, East Sussex County Council attempted to divert the path.
Last year Kate Ashbrook, Chairman of the Ramblers' Association Access Committee, won a case in the Appeal Court against East Sussex CC that led to the council abandoning the diversion and issuing a legal notice to clear the obstructions.
Kate Ashbrook said: "The path is now open thanks to the thousands of walkers who stood up for the public's rights. East Sussex County Council should have acted 13 years ago when the path was first blocked. But they, like so many other local authorities, failed to act. The 'van Hoogstraten' path is now being restored for the public to use, but an estimated 37,000 miles of path in England and Wales remain difficult or impossible to use. Local authorities will face more and more lobbying, criticism and legal action from the walking public until they fulfil their legal duty to protect the public path network."
More pictures - see path opening photo
gallery.