Villagers lose 10-year battle to reopen footpath

The public inquiry heard that some people had walked the path since they were children in the 1950s

Villagers have lost a decade-long battle with a holiday park owner over a blocked footpath that has left two communities cut off.

The row centres on a footpath that runs along dunes between Winterton-on-Sea and Hemsby on the Norfolk coast near Great Yarmouth.

It has been closed by a homeowner living next to Winterton Valley Holiday Park since 2015, but locals challenged this at a public inquiry.

The Planning Inspectorate has ruled that the 30-metre (100ft) path should remain shut to the public.

The path was closed by a property owner living next to Winterton Valley Estate holiday park in 2015

Villagers say the closure, created when a homeowner erected a fence on either side of the land in 2015, has left them without a safe and accessible route between the neighbouring communities.

However, the Cole family, which owns Winterton Valley Estate, said the route had always cut through private land, but people had chosen to ignore "no entry" signs for decades.

'Once a highway, always a highway'

At the public hearing at Hemsby Village Hall last month, locals attempted to persuade the Planning Inspector – the government official presiding over the footpath dispute – that they had used the route continuously for at least 20 years.

Some people said they had walked the path since they were children in the 1950s and presumed generations before them would have also used it, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported.

This meant it should be granted public right of way status under common law through the legal maxim "once a highway, always a highway", they argued.

Nigel Farthing, the inspector, has decided not to confirm the footpath, meaning it would remain closed.

He believed there was sufficient evidence that showed Winterton Valley Estate had no intention of allowing people to walk along the route.

This was because of several "private property" signs which had been placed around the route since 1969.

It means villagers wanting to walk from Winterton to Hemsby will either have to travel along the main road or along the coastal footpath through the dunes, which is impassable for wheelchair users or pushchairs.