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Open Spaces Society Local Correspondent
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LEWES MAGISTRATES have used brand-new powers to order illegal obstructions on a path across the estate of millionaire Nicholas van Hoogstraten to be cleared.
Rarebargain Ltd - the company registered as owning the land over which the 140-year-old path runs - has been fined a total of £4,000 for the obstructions and must remove the barbed wire, locked gates and refrigeration units blocking the route by 17 April. A barn is also to be removed within six months.It is the first case where magistrates have been able to demand a footpath be cleared following the introduction of new powers in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. Previously, a magistrate could find a path illegally blocked but it was up to the local council to arrange for the route to be reopened.
Ramblers' Association Executive Committee member Kate Ashbrook had taken the case to court in January last year but despite the magistrate declaring Framfield footpath 9 to be illegally blocked, East Sussex council failed to reinstate the route. When the council last summer announced plans to divert the route rather than clear the blockages it received an unprecedented 4,000 letters of objection.
The barn that is obstructing the path photo Chris Beney
An article in The Times 11 Aug 2001 may be of interest.