Issue - meetings

To consider the claim for a footpath at Malkins Bank Golf Course

The Committee received a report which detailed an investigation into a claimed footpath at Malkins Bank Golf Course, parish of Hassall, from Mill Lane to Bridleway No. 15 Hassall. 

Under section 53 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, the Borough Council had a duty, as surveying authority, to keep the Definitive Map and Statement under continuous review.  Section 53(c) allowed for an authority to act on the discovery of evidence that suggested that the Definitive Map needed to be amended.  The authority must investigate and determine that evidence and decide on the outcome whether to make a Definitive Map Modification Order or not.

With reference to Plan No.WCA/003, the claimed route commenced at Point A and ran in a northerly then north easterly direction crossing a stream and then running generally easterly to the north of the stream and continuing to its junction with Bridleway No.15.  The surface was grassed.  When the path left Mill Lane there was a post and rail fencing preventing access and further along the road to the south east there was a gap in the fencing/hedge.  There was no bridge where the path crossed the stream although the remnant of a sleeper bridge can be seen.

The claim for the footpath came to the attention of Cheshire County Council in approximately 2005 when an inquiry was made by Mr C Meewezen regarding whether a right of way existed at Malkins Bank Golf Course and consequently an application pack to make a claim to record the footpath was sent out to Mr Meewezen.  The existence of the footpath was being concurrently pursued by Mr Meewezen with the then landowner Congleton Borough Council. 

In order to address this situation Congleton Borough Council instigated a Footpath Task Group who contributed to a report put by the Health Scrutiny Committee before the Council’s Executive in April 2006.  The report accepted that there was no evidence that the claimed route had been stopped up or diverted since 1941 and considered that there was no evidence to suggest the route was currently being used and that the ‘used route’ was some distance away.  The report considered that the public attempting to use the route would be at considerable risk as it ran through the 6^th and 7^th fairways of the Golf Course.  The report concluded that it was felt that the need of the public had been addressed by the previous dedication of a bridleway running north to south across the course (Bridleway 15) and that the correct procedure to have a footpath recognised was to submit any relevant evidence with an application for the Definitive Map Modification Order to the Public Rights of Way Team at the County Council.

Officers in the Public Rights of Way Team had now carried out additional research to see if available historical documentation supported the existence of the footpath or showed the route had been formally closed by statutory procedure. 

It was found that the Bryant’s Map of 1831 showed part  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40