News: Spoil heap path victory

For more than a year, it lay buried under a spoil heap. But now, public footpath 42 in Saunderton has been cleared after CWW raised the alarm.  

The huge pile of asphalt was discovered by walk leader Anne Kimber on a recce in October 2023.  It was dumped right on the line of the path, blocking it near the A4010 south of the Crownfield Industrial Estate.    

Anne said: “What a drag it was to find this pile of slag!  It was in a narrow tarmacked area with a padlocked gate at one end, and with nothing else there apart from this strategically placed pile of loose asphalt chippings blocking the public right of way.

“I did try to climb over the obstruction but it was slippery and too dangerous to take a group over.  Plus the field path beyond the blockage was ploughed up. There’s an alternative route nearby, but the principle remains. We must keep walking all paths, keeping them free and open – or risk losing them.”

A full year after our report to Buckinghamshire Council, rights of way officers notified us in October 2024 that the matter had been referred to the landowner. On a recce two weeks later Anne was delighted to discover the spoil heap had been removed.

The newly unblocked path figured on Anne’s walk from Saunderton on November 10th. She said: “They have made a good job of tidying the area and clearing the entrance to the field which had become severely overgrown.”

The clearance of footpath 42 is being hailed as CWW’s biggest footpath victory, but questions remain over why the council took more than a year to respond to our complaint.

• In Speen, misleading signage at the Horse Trust was corrected after we reported it to Bucks Council.  Walkers trying to follow footpath 48 past the Home of Rest for Horses had been confronted by a gate marked “Private”, plus a “No entry” sign nearby.

After our report to the council, new signs were added, making it clear where the right of way runs. The stables are in Lacey Green parish where the Ramblers Bucks Area committee has appointed CWW to check rights of way.

• At Turnip End, also in Lacey Green parish, thanks to efforts by veteran access campaigner and Ramblers Area Footpath Secretary Kate Ashbrook and others, the landowner decided not to pursue a proposal to divert a path.

• South of Winchmore Hill, CWW members alerted Bucks Council to a path where where the waymarked route differed from the one shown on OS maps.

In response, the council opened up a new route through a hedge, but the arrows on two nearby footpath marker posts still appear to contradict each other.

• CWW’s Anne Kimber has alerted Bucks Council after five of our walkers were bitten by horses on a path near Jordans. According to social media reports, it’s not the first time the horses have caused problems for passers-by.

• Near Coleshill, a landowner who put up an electric fence across a public footpath has now added a crossing point, following a complaint from Anne. 

Anne said:  “It was a shocking affair!  The path was blocked by the electric fence, which went right across the field.  I saw someone in a garden and they directed me to the farm owner.  I knocked on her door and she told me to duck under the fence, saying it was only a mild electric shock to stop the horses wandering, and she wasn’t going to change it.  

“I gave it a try but got all tangled up in it.  I took off my rucksack and shuffled under it getting a bit muddy.  I realised some groups would not manage this and, unsatisfied with the landowner’s response and the thought of getting electrified, I reported the matter.  I think the ‘gate’ appeared after that.” 

Inspecting the newly added gate on the electric fence, CWW chair Tim Axten said:  “Footpath checking and reporting faults are an important part of what we do in CWW.  As Ramblers our mission is to care for and protect our precious rights of way network, keeping footpaths open and accessible for anyone who wishes to use them.”

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