Following enquiries from members regarding the legal position and ownership of the kissing gate which provides initial access at Hutton Rudby ponds the committee have liaised with Andy Brown, Senior Public Rights of Way Officer at North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) in order to provide clarity to members concerning this issue which was discussed at last Mondays committee meeting (31st Oct).
Andy has confirmed that although the council installed the gate, the legal owners of the gate are the landowners who are aware a second lock has been installed on the gate and wish for it to stay in place to ensure it cannot be fully opened with a radar key following instances of the gate being left open – creating a potentially fatal situation if the resident livestock escaped and wandered into Campion Lane on the blind corner where access to the ponds is situated.
Further to this NYCC recommends the limited opening of the gate as the best option to ensure livestock are not able to escape while still providing a better level of access than a stile which was the previous method of access.
This is the response that NYCC recently provided to a member of the public who enquired about the gate:
“Stiles and gates on public rights of way are the responsibility of the landowner or tenant, but North Yorkshire County Council can assist with their maintenance. In this case it was the tenant of the fishing ponds who asked us to advise and assist on a suitable alternative to the stile that was on the path previously that would allow access to their members with trollies, wheel barrows and mowers etc. but would still be stock proof. We felt an accessible kissing gate, with radar lock would be the best option for this situation and would also improve access to the footpath for the public. While we do strive to work with landowners to make public rights of way as accessible as possible, on historic rights of way such as this landowners are not obliged to provide better stiles or gates than were present on the paths when they were first recoded as public rights of way. So in this case they could revert to a stile if they wanted to but at least the kissing gate does still allow a reasonable degree of access, even if it can’t be opened to let larger mobility vehicles through.”
Members are asked to note that tampering with the second lock to open the gate is criminal damage. Any member found to have damaged the access gate faces expulsion from the club.
On a related matter the committee has been asked by the landowner to once again remind members not to park up on the land in front of the access gate for Hutton Rudby ponds – even just to unload gear – this creates a safety issue when backing out onto Campion Lane as you will not be visible to oncoming drivers travelling at speed.
M.A.C. Committee
