A long running footpath dispute will be settled by public enquiry next month.
A government inspector has been appointed to rule on the width of AQ78 – the footpath from Combe Down to the top of Widcombe Hill. Local councillor Nicholas Coombes pushed the issue at the B&NES footpath committee, proposing that the full width be enforced.
A fence has been erected in recent years reducing the width of the footpath, leaving a dark and narrow muddy track alongside the fence.
“It is important that the original width be reinstated,” says local resident Dr David Martin. “At full width this could also be a safe and convenient cycle route for pupils at Ralph Allen school and Bath University students.”
The enquiry will be on 25th August from 10am in the Claverton Down Community Hall. Cllr Coombes would like to hear from any long term residents who remember using the path before the dence was erected, or have other evidence of its original width. Already one resident has come forward who remembers walking the path, four alongside, with his family in the 1930s!
Dear Nick,
I won’t be able to make the footpath enquiry on Tuesday, but I would like to add my support for the idea that the fence should be moved.
We have lived in Clarence Terrace, on Widcombe Hill at the end of the footpath, for 25years and have seen it being used by all sorts of people on foot, by bicycle and on horseback. Horses used to be kept in the first field you get to walking from Widcombe Hill.
My children used to walk to Ralph Allen School that way, and as you know it is used by all sorts of University students and staff – not just from Coombe Down, but also from Lyncombe, coming up the path from the end of Church Lane (off Church Street by St Thomas à Becket Church).
Best wishes,
Chris