As some residents may have noticed, the local farmer (Church Farm Services) who have taken on the tenancy of the fields in Mitchley Ave and Rectory Park/Mitchley Hill have started to plough the farmland in preparation for sowing, “for long term grass leys this autumn and to cut it for hay and haylage next summer” (see our post below of 20 May 2017).

A number of residents have contacted the RRA to say that Public Footpaths have been ploughed and are now uneven. This is particularly so, on the Public Footpath between Mitchley Ave (opposite shops) and Derwent Drive.

“So what does the law state and what do farmers/landowners have to do?

• In England and Wales, those that own or maintain the land are required to keep public rights of way “open and useable”.

This means:

• To provide and maintain stiles and gates, keeping them safe and easy to use.

• Cut back overhanging vegetation that may obstruct the route – at least 3m of headroom is required on bridleways.

• Ensure field-edge paths are not cultivated for the legal minimum width of 1.5m for a public footpath and 3m for a public bridleway.

• Reinstate cross-field paths correctly

Can Farmers plough up across Public Footpaths?

Yes, they can disturb a path surface when ploughing or cultivating the field, but if they do, they must make good the path surface within 14 days of the first disturbance if a crop is being sown, or within 24 hours in other cases. The surface must be returned to at least the minimum width, which is 1m for cross-field footpaths and 2m for bridleways. Signs should be used to show the route of any reinstated path.

Can field-edge paths be cultivated?

No. A minimum width of 1.5m for field-edge footpaths and 3m for field-edge bridleways must be respected.”

We have noted the farmer has ploughed up to and across the line of the Public Footpath from Mitchley Ave (opposite shops) to Derwent Drive on the field edge. The problem with this Public Footpath is that because all the bramble/ shrub vegetation that has been allowed to grow behind the houses, the path has been allowed to be become established some metres away from the true line (and the sign post on Mitchley Ave) and it has encroached into the farmer’s field. The RRA have spoken to him (2/8/17) and he has promised to rectify this as situation as soon as possible and re-establish the Public Footpath on the field edge.

It is also needs to be made clear that the Public Footpath that runs from Mitchley Ave (opposite the shops) up to Derwent Drive (which comes out beside houses Nos 37/39) is the correct Public Footpath. The Public Footpath (130) that runs from the end of Grisedale Gardens (beside the end house – No 31) should really cross the field and connect to the Public Footpath that runs beside the Doctors Surgery in Mitchley Ave (No 116), up to Dunmail Drive. However this path isn’t properly established and is rarely used!

The photo below (taken from the Ordnance Survey map) gives a clear indication of the Public Footpaths over this land. The thick green pecked lines are the Public Footpaths. The footpath between Derwent Drive and Grisedale Gardens that runs along the edge of the field and behind the houses in Grisedale Gardens (shown in thinner black pecked line) is not a Public Footpath but a permissive path.

We have also been made aware that a gate has been erected behind the “car parking” area in Mitchley Ave. We have been asked if this is allowed. Yes, a farmer is perfectly entitled to gate a field and fence it (at a sensible height). There is no Public Footpath entrance at this point. As long as the Public Footpaths are accessible, this is allowed.

What the farmer is trying to do, is make people walk on the Public Footpaths, rather than across the fields and his crops!