Siblings fight to block right of way

By dnichols

A GROUP of pensioners is calling for common sense to be applied so a 36-year-old wrangle over a public footpath at High Ham, near Langport, can end.

Retired farmers Archie Peppard, aged 84, and his sister Ivy, 78, are deteriorating in health but are still battling to alter official maps which show a track running outside their house as a public right of way.

Their campaign against Somerset County Council is being championed by Marlene Masters, 72, of Yarlington, near Wincanton. On Tuesday the parish councillor took a petition to County Hall in Taunton to try and get the matter resolved.

Despite losing battles in 1987, 1992, 1995 and 1997 to keep a gate to the Turn Hill smallholding closed, the trio believe they have new historical mapping evidence which could change the minds of councillors.

Mrs Peppard said: "We are not going to give in. The path goes right past our front door and you do not know who is around these days. The farm has been in our family for 160 years and I think we should know if it was a public footpath or not – it's just common sense."

A new application for a Definitive Map Modification Order was submitted in April and an 18-signature petition is calling for the council to give priority to discussing the matter and end a fight which has plagued the elderly siblings' lives.

It was accepted by Cllr Brenda Maitland-Walker, acting chairman of the regulation committee, but the item was not debated.

Farmer's wife Mrs Masters, who is a former member of the Institute of Public Rights of Way Officers, said: "It is more than frustrating and we know very well that all they are going to do is put it back on the shelf.

"I am prepared to take this to the High Court and get justice for these two people who have had to live with this battle for 36 years."

The siblings have lived at Turn Hill Farm, beside Aller wood, all their lives and said the first they knew about the path was in 1973 when walkers tried getting down their track.

They claim the county council added the footpath to maps in 1959 without consulting the family, resulting in them not having the opportunity to lodge an objection.

Since then Mr Peppard has confronted hikers who arrive at his farm gate, which has often resulted in him being arrested.

In 2000 South Somerset magistrates ordered Mr Peppard to pay £100 costs to the council and gave him a 12-month conditional discharge for wilfully obstructing a public footpath.

The pensioners are being backed by former county councillor and current south Somerset district councillor Henry Hobhouse who said: "This is a huge miscarriage of justice. I have always supported Marlene and the Peppards and the county council has the power to change it."

A spokesman for the county council said: "The county council has an adopted statement of priorities, which states that each application will be prioritised using the Rights of Way Improvement Plan 2006-2011 scorecard.

"There are 44 current applications which have been scored and currently there are 113 new applications pending this process. In addition, the adopted statement of priorities states that first applications will take precedence over second and subsequent applications.

"The current application is the fourth relating to this right of way, and there has also been a public inquiry into the matter in 1995.

"A petition of 18 signatures, a number of which were not from the High Ham area, was submitted by Mrs Masters and this will be considered by officers.

"However, the primary mechanism for prioritising applications remains the adopted statement of priorities, which does not provide an opportunity to take applications out of turn on the basis of fairness and consistency to all applicants across the county."