IN DECEMBER 2012, Somerset County Council circulated a report recommending that Winterhay Lane should not be designated as a public footpath.

More than three years later, as a result of much political pressure and expenditure of public monies, the county council has now prepared extremely convincing arguments to present to a Public Enquiry this May, as to why Winterhay Lane should be designated as a public footpath.

It is an extremely complex case, and the local residents of Northern Winterhay Lane who have maintained the Northern unadopted stretch of the Lane as a private road, have spent considerable time and money researching and defending the privacy of the lane, but these personal funds have now run out, and further significant legal fees cannot be afforded.

While we are awaiting the inspector’s decision, it would appear that, regretfully, and regardless of the ultimate rights and wrongs, most of the lane will now almost certainly become a public footpath, if not also a bridle path.

We regard this as another sad example of the triumph of rigidly enforced political democracy over friendly negotiation between neighbours, as no effective constructive attempt has ever been made to mediate in the matter.

John Waldie, Northern Winterhay Residents

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