Norfolk Ramblers wins 10-year battle
Kings Lynn Ramblers has triumphed in a decade-long battle to reopen a public right of way across private farmland in Norfolk. The half-mile trail through Sussex Farm, near Burnham Market, was blocked by the landowner after he discovered it wasn’t on the county council’s definitive map. Research by the local Group provided evidence that the route had been in use for 20 years and was therefore a ‘de facto’ public right of way. Yet despite old maps showing a carriageway along the route as early as 1797, the council dismissed the Ramblers’ claims and the issue went to a public inquiry. But in November, the inspector’s report ordered the route to be reopened as a byway open to all traffic.
“This is a victory celebration,” said Allan Jones of Norfolk Ramblers. “We look after the footpaths and the countryside. We could not accept losing a piece of path like that.”
Eugene Suggett, Ramblers’ senior policy officer, added: “Since the application was made, the NERC Act has bitten off the motor-vehicular rights which the maps would otherwise have proved. The result is an excellent link in the network with no motor vehicles allowed.”
