The Battle for Broxhead Common
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The Case for Hampshire County Council – PART 119
- 21st December 2006 I receive a short email from the Leader, which says it is not possible for him to respond until after Christmas.
2006 Nov letter KT to MC 1 - 8th February 2007 The letter from the Leader arrived by email. It is mainly a defence of the Officers of the Recreation and Heritage Department, highlighting their expertise in investigating applications to modify the Definitive Map, but then came a shocking revelation where he says, “Rights of Way Improvement Plans are not relevant to these decisions.”
2007 February letter KT to MC - We volunteers had been working with the Local Access Forums and other interested bodies to help improve the Footpaths, Bridleways and Byways which run like golden threads of peace and tranquillity throughout the countryside. However, they could be much improved by being linked up because there are sometimes considerable lengths in the network that are missing. This is the main reason why vulnerable road users must use the tarmacked roads to get from one bridleway to the next.
- However, clearly all my questions had not been addressed, especially the reminder to HCC of the recommendation by their Regulatory Committee that instead of supporting my application to recognise paths that had been used since time immemorial as bridleways, better provision should be sought for horse riders on Broxhead Common. As far as we could see nothing had been done to address this instruction. All we could do now was to wait for the Planning Inspectorate’s decision.
- 8th August 2007 was the date I received the decision from Inspector Mark Yates, detailed in Part 114 of this series.
- 9th August 2007 I was quick to email the Leader and once again bring him up to date.
2007 MC to Ken Thornber - 12th September the Leader responds. He acknowledges the decision but then says that the report does not say that routes for riders must be provided under the terms of the lease, however, it might be a good time to review with the landowner the possibilities for allowing permissive access for riders.
2007 KT to MC email 12.9.0710022021
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Next time: the correspondence continues