Highways Act 1980 section 119
Proposal to Divert Parts of Spelsbury Footpath No. 17, 18 and 33 at ‘Willow’, The Pyramid House, All Saints Church and farmland at Spelsbury
This consultation refers to alterations to the footpath network at Spelsbury. Comments received will be considered when OCC decides whether to make a series of public path Orders reflecting the changes.
A diversion of the paths would be carried out in the interests of the landowners. The reasons behind the route alterations are set out in the consultation below.
Background and Context
The owner of the property Willow and The Pyramid House wish to have FP18 and FP33 diverted from their routes running immediately past the houses (FP33) and through both properties’ gardens (FP18 and FP33) onto new routes running around the outside of the properties’ curtilage to ensure their privacy.
The footpaths in the immediate vicinity of the two properties run through the graveyard of All Saints Church, a small building, and the corner of the garden of Old Church House. The path through the graveyard enters through a stone wall and across several graves. After speaking with the applicant for the diversion at Willow, the Council approached the Chase Benefice, the owner of the farmland, and the tenant farmer, and gained consent for the obstructed paths to be diverted onto the nearby available routes on the ground.
The Diversion of Part of Spelsbury FP17
FP17 runs generally south-eastwards from Point A on Plan 755/03676 across a pasture field and through a small building. It continues through the corner of a wood, past its junction with FP18 (Point B) and into a second pasture field to Point C. The new route would be across the two pasture fields (Points A – G – H – C) and have a grass surface. It would be unfenced and have a width of 2m. The length of existing footpath is 225m whereas the new route is 238m long.
The Diversion of Part of Spelsbury FP18
FP18 runs generally northward from Point B across a pasture field and the corner of the garden of Old Church House and into the graveyard of Old Saints Church. It crosses a series of graves before exiting into the pasture field through a stone wall. The path crosses FP!9 and across the garden of ‘Willow’ where it joins with FP33. It continues through a small wood and joins BR16 at Point E. The new route would run across the pasture field immediately to the west of the graveyard, cross the new route of FP33 (Point L – see below) to run through the wood between Point I and Point E. The new route would have an unfenced grass surface across the field and have a 2m width save for a 0.9m width at Point I where it runs through a gap in a stone wall.
The Diversion of Part of Spelsbury FP33
FP33 runs south-eastwards from FP18 (Point D) across the gardens of both the Willow and The Pyramid House running immediately past both properties to join FP19 at Point F. The new route would run from BR16 (Point J) a short distance to Point K on the plan. It would run north-eastwards to cross the diverted FP18 before turning south-eastwards along a 3m wide route to join FP19 at Point M. The new path would be fenced to its south-western and south-eastern sides and bounded on the opposite side by the properties curtilage. The owner of Willow will maintain the path and there will be no structures along the route.
The administration and advertising costs this Council incurs in respect of the processing the diversion will be recharged to the applicant who will also be responsible for works required to bring the new route into a satisfactory condition for public use.
Any comments you wish to make are welcomed. I would be grateful for any comments by 19th April 2024.
Andy Sylvester
Technical Lead – Public Path Orders and Agreements