BHS Campaign to open bridleways

deere66

deere66

Well-known member
Had a bloke bending my ear today, he's had notice that the Council under pressure from the BHS want to reopen a footpath right through the middle of his yard and make it a bridleway :mad:
The back-story is that his place was built in the 1700s and the way to it came straight from the village up to the front door. This would be no more than a track across the fields. The Enclosures, 1770, brought a road across the back of the property and rendered the original access redundant. When the PRoWs became a thing, the original track was made a footpath and matey got it officially moved around 50 years ago to the field edges and around the back of the buildings. He also got it on the register as being 1m wide when field edge paths are 1.5m standard. Now the horsey mob want it upgrading and putting back across the middle of fields and through his yard. How the hell is that going to work with cattle and machinery around? His solicitor reckons it'll cost 000s to only halfway defend this:mad: I might have mentioned in the past that I have a similar footpath so did some digging and found this
Project2026 (bhsaccess.org.uk)
Sure enough, his is marked but mine has escaped attention...........so far
 
deere66 said:
Had a bloke bending my ear today, he's had notice that the Council under pressure from the BHS want to reopen a footpath right through the middle of his yard and make it a bridleway :mad:
The back-story is that his place was built in the 1700s and the way to it came straight from the village up to the front door. This would be no more than a track across the fields. The Enclosures, 1770, brought a road across the back of the property and rendered the original access redundant. When the PRoWs became a thing, the original track was made a footpath and matey got it officially moved around 50 years ago to the field edges and around the back of the buildings. He also got it on the register as being 1m wide when field edge paths are 1.5m standard. Now the horsey mob want it upgrading and putting back across the middle of fields and through his yard. How the hell is that going to work with cattle and machinery around? His solicitor reckons it'll cost 000s to only halfway defend this:mad: I might have mentioned in the past that I have a similar footpath so did some digging and found this
Project2026 (bhsaccess.org.uk)
Sure enough, his is marked but mine has escaped attention...........so far
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Is the BHS THAT well funded? If someone raises objections it will presumably cost them £££ to fight too. They are presumably expecting most folks to roll over without a whimper? The way forward should be EVERYONE raising an objection, ideally supported legally by some kind of national farming organisation…🤬
 
At least they have a mapping system that opens to proper OS map - nothing unusual here but there is one nobody has used for years as the bridge is disintegrating.
A bossy horsey lady did try to go over it I said you won't be able to as there are gates tied up with rope and twine both sides so cattle don't go on and put legs through the various holes.
She said she would get round it by going through like a ford.
I said you won't because there are six feet high banks both sides with cattle proof fences.
She still went down there and came back about 30 minutes later.
Probably taking photos to put in a complaint but on their map it is shown as usable which will be fun.
Nobody else has ever tried to go through there with a horse anyway though
 
Don't suppose the Ramblers Ass will want horses and bikes disturbing walkers so will they object 🤔
 
Has anyone lodged a Section 31 (6) Statement that you acknowledge existing RoWs and deny claim to future ones. There are a handful on York Council's website, one or two submitted by someone I know at York Market so I've asked her if it's worth the paper it's written on. At £242, I should hope so
 
To upgrade a footpath to a bridleway they have to have the landowners permission. As we own to the middle of a footpath on the edge of our property we were approached by a local BHS activist if we would agree to it, my wife rode the path regularly so it made no difference to us so we agreed. Local council had to draw up legal papers and we had to sign giving our permission along with my neighbour who owns the property on the other side of the path. So as far as I know they cannot upgrade a footpath without the landowners agreement.
 
Sussex Martin said:
To upgrade a footpath to a bridleway they have to have the landowners permission. As we own to the middle of a footpath on the edge of our property we were approached by a local BHS activist if we would agree to it, my wife rode the path regularly so it made no difference to us so we agreed. Local council had to draw up legal papers and we had to sign giving our permission along with my neighbour who owns the property on the other side of the path. So as far as I know they cannot upgrade a footpath without the landowners agreement.
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Doesn't seem to apply to this case. Not only do they want to upgrade to Restricted Byway, which is the new Road Used as Public Path (RUPP), they also want it back to the line it took 50+ years ago. I think the byway idea is to allow carts on the horses which a bridleway wouldn't.
The DMMO Definitive Map Modification Order application is by BHS from Scarborough :mad:
The farmer in question was up half the night looking for paperwork about the last diversion and he found it:). Solicitor is delighted as Council/BHS were claiming it had never been officially moved. Stands a better chance now of not having it re-instated, as for the upgrade🤷‍♂️
Looking at Council website, there are half a dozen or so applications around York from the BHS mostly to upgrade FP to RB or create totally new RB to join 2 existing bridleways.
 
deere66 said:
Has anyone lodged a Section 31 (6) Statement that you acknowledge existing RoWs and deny claim to future ones. There are a handful on York Council's website, one or two submitted by someone I know at York Market so I've asked her if it's worth the paper it's written on. At £242, I should hope so
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Had a reply from my tame land agent, if there is such a thing :rolleyes: The declaration is well worth doing, she charges £100/hr +vat and it should take a couple of hours for each of the 2 parts of it plus mapping costs😲 I have a good map that came with the Entry Level Scheme, remember that, and the forms don't look that complicated so £400 is looking a bit steep:unsure:
 
Old Boar said:
Would that mean there were two paths? So in effect they are then creating a new path. I am glad he found the paperwork, it should stop it all dead in its tracks (sorry!).
Personally I would not ride through a farm yard - far to many dragons for most horses!
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Sounds like. Someone has looked at an old map and liked the idea of the track meandering across the middle of 3 field rather than following the hedge. No mention of extinguishing the current path
 
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