Get off my land! Landowner wins right to bar ramblers access to natural Dartmoor attraction

Published 21st Sep 2011

Ramblers and climbers have been banned from accessing one of Dartmoor's most historic sites.

The beautiful Vixen Tor has now been closed off for good, after landowner Mary Alford won an eight-year battle to keep walkers off her land.

Her victory comes after a long fight with walkers, who staged a series of mass trespasses to protest against its closure.

A planning inquiry ruled in favour of Mrs Alford, who bought 360 acres of land around the site in 2003 and immediately closed off access to it by putting up fences and spraying parts of it with manure.

She said she wanted to seal off the area because she was worried about insurance claims.

It is the second inquiry that the landowner has won.

A previous one, which is seen as one of the most important test cases for the Right to Roam legislation, ruled that the public did not have an automatic right of way.

But Devon County Council insisted that two paths across the land should remain open, leading to this case.

Inspector Mark Yates ruled in Mrs Alford's favour, despite hearing evidence from hikers that they used the paths unimpeded for many years before 2003.

He said there was not enough evidence to show that the paths had been a public right of way for an unbroken 20 year period.

The order to open the path, which has now been rescinded, was made by Devon County Council who were supported by the Ramblers Association and the British Mountaineering Council.

A total of 59 people gave oral or written accounts of using the paths in the 70s. But documents found by Mrs Alford suggested there had been times when the path had not been used.

Mr Yates added: 'Overall I accept that people have walked to Vixen Tor and used routes through the enclosure.

'However, I am not satisfied that, on balance, the evidence of public use of the order route, either in whole or part, presented to the inquiry is sufficient to demonstrate the dedication of this route at common law.'

A Devon County Council spokesman said: 'The inspector has issued his decision not to confirm the order.

'The decision can be viewed on the Planning Inspectorate website.'

The Tor is one of the highest and most dramatic on Dartmoor and its rocky peak has often been described as a naturally carved sphinx.

Source: ' ThisIsMoney '

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