Cambridgeshire walkers lose their access to woodland after a public footpath has been blocked for many years. The Inspector considering a disputed application for two footpath diversions says that paths outside the woodland are “easier to navigate”. Heaven forbid that this becomes the norm for planning decisions!
Two public rights of way (footpaths) through woodland near Lode have been blocked for many years, with no attempt by the landowner to unblock them. The Planning Inspector’s report makes no mention of this blockage, which included threatening warning signs such as ‘CCTV cameras’. The Inspector has agreed with the landowner’s newly proposed path diversions to avoid going through the wood. The Inspector’s report says: “[the diversion is] ..easier to navigate than through an area containing bodies of water, trees, and undulating grassed areas”.
The small White Fen Wood is described by the Inspector as ‘a relatively small cluster of trees that are an anomaly in this relatively open and flat landscape’. But the wood is a small remnant of a much larger wooded area and provides a wonderful haven which we would like to see extended. Luckily the National Trust has been active in planting new woodland nearby, alongside the Lodes Way cycle route linking Lode and Wicken Fen.
