The Battle for Broxhead Common
BW4 a rearranged gate
The Case for Hampshire County Council – PART 113
- My email serving notice on them to remove the fencing brought forth a suggestion of a site visit.
- At last, I was able to explain the dangers of having the fence wire on the wrong side of the posts. As any farmer will tell you, they always fence against their own stock so that if or when they push against it the wire is pushed on to the posts rather than off them.
- I showed them how the gate they had erected could not work and how the gate handle on the post was much too low.
- I suggested that all these structures formed obstructions to the bridleway because it was now outside the curtilage of the field and by law the whole width of the path must be available and unobstructed.
- I asked why rails had been placed across most of the path with a gap beside them at the other side of the field. I also showed how the fencing had cut across the Definitive line used by the public, as the pictures show.
- In the end it was agreed to remove the rails at one end of the path which at least put an end to the possibility of the Terminator’s return, but the gate at the other side must remain because of moving the sheep. I said that was probably only a couple of times a year and it would be easy to place a hurdle across it when this happened.
- But they insisted that the gate remained but would be kept open permanently unless the sheep were being moved.
- In the interest of being reasonable I was forced to agree to this but knew it would never work because the public can be very good at closing gates.
- Just as I had guessed would be the case, I was to find the gate open only once shortly after that meeting, the fence wire remained on the wrong side of the posts.
The obstruction to BW4 remains to this day.
Gates on BW’s Broxhead Common with the 80 acres in the background
2019 BW4
Next time: While all of this was taking place a different problem had arisen.