Byway Open to all Traffic through Dean Grove

Wed 28 Jun 2023, 22:04

Hi. My name is Adrian Tremlett. I am a retired solicitor and served 10 years on Chadlington parish council with responsibility for rights of way.  By law our county council must keep a register of rights of way - also known as highways, which term includes tracks, bridleways and paths. They must also protect highways and the public's right to use them. If the register has defects, they must correct them. The legal maxim "once a highway, always a highway" should mean landowners cannot deprive the public of their historic rights.

The reason you have that lovely path across Dean Grove is thanks to a vast amount of work by Nick Moon and the OFS uncovering historic documentation proving its existence. It had been blocked for so long there were not enough people left alive to give the necessary evidence though in fact my Chadlington neighbour remembered it. Nick and OFS made the application to save the path on behalf of us all and were successful; however the evidence clearly showed a road and the status OCC granted was just a path. They agonised over whether to appeal but decided in the end the job should be done correctly, not just left to the whim of OCC and an appeal is by definition bureaucratic and legalistic. The track becomes a path so the likelihood of motorised vehicles using it is vanishingly small as they can get nowhere. Nearly all local byways have been downgraded in a simple process by OCC to "restricted byway" so 4x4 drivers can't use them and this path could easily be added to the list should the need arise. I have no doubt Nick would support us.

Legal practice and being a parish councillor were no preparation for the massive, complex task of getting unrecorded paths corrected. OCC, despite their legal duty, were shockingly unhelpful and at times misleading. More useful were a couple of courses run by specialist lawyers financed by charities & government bodies. but even then I sometimes was at a loss until I happened across Nick. Through his help I managed to save from loss two paths in Chadlington, one in Taston and a road in Chadlington and then in turn give advice to other volunteers in the same situation. Not only is OFS the most fantastic free resource when you discover a path OCC have not recorded correctly but they also supplement the work of the Cotswold Wardens in clearing paths and making them easier to access