Me and the Dawg did another reccy today for an advent walk which circumnavigates Crook and ends with Festive Pies and Hot Coffee (important capitalisation here) at St Catherine’s Community centre in Crook – just to start off the hiking Christmas (I just like Christmas…) and I made a discovery that cheered me up no end…
Most readers probably won't remember a blog post I made last summer about Kitty's Wood in which somebody had bought this wood from the County Council and had barricaded it off, I presumed, to use the wood as a pheasant shoot. The good people of Roddymoor have been using the wood as a recreational facility for yonks and it has a long history, being the site of Roddymoor Pit, a huge industrial site which employed thousands of men and boys from Crook, Roddymoor and Billy Row, some of whom lost their live there. So, as you can imagine, the locals weren’t too chuffed about all the barbed wire and there was a kerfuffle about it, to say the least, some of which was organised by fellow outdoor blogger and Roddymoor resident who blogged about it here and organised the submission of rights of way claims concerning two main routes through the woods.
This is what one of the barricades looked like in the summer:
And this is what it looked like today
This looks like progress. I checked out the other termini of the main paths and they all appear to be open and useable. I’m not sure when all this happened – my eye hasn’t been on the ball.
It looks good, though. I’ll be having a little doggy walk through there quite soon….
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8 comments:
Glad to see common sense has prevailed and someone has listened to the voice of the people. Hopefully the situation has now been resolved!
Hopefully the 'people' have been heard....Lets hope that this has now been sorted and that the decision is permanent....
-Trevor
The links "Kitty's Wood" and "here" aren't working for me. Could you check please?
I'm interested in following the definitive map modification order process - if that is covered in the blog you refer to.
Brian - not sure what happened there, but I fixed the links. They're working for me - hopefully they'll stay that way. It is the definitive map modification process - a form to be completed with evidence of usage, maps etc.
Trevor/dawn - I'm not sure how the problem got fixed, or even if it is fixed (could be local direct action. I'm going to have a poke around!
The links are now working thanks.
As you’re aware, but some of your readers may not be, there are many such paths in England and Wales as those in Kitty’s Wood - that is, used but not recorded. They tend to be found when new owners block them. Other paths which are highways in law remain hidden. The process for putting them on the (definitive) map can take years.
The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 introduced a cut-off date of 1 January 2026 for the claim of unrecorded/lost paths. Half that period has almost elapsed yet little, if any, progress has been made; very few authorities are looking for lost paths and the backlogs of path claims are increasing. Meanwhile, the government is still deliberating on the regulations and how to bring that part of the legislation into force.
Thousands of paths are going to be lost. We’re all doomed.
Thanks, Brian. Current politics seem to indicate a bleak future for rights of way in Englandandwales - both existing ones and those yet to be claimed/registered. Englsish access legislation is a beaurocratic nightmare - and,, I expect that whilst many land managers might agree, they probably wouldnlt agree with the solution of making English access laws a lot more like the Scottish version.
I hope that's not barbed wire I see........if it is you'd better warn Bruno to be careful......
I had the same thought as Laura - that barbed wire around the stiley bit looks like it's just waiting to rip a dog's leg as they jump over it......
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