Villagers have won a five-year battle to use a 600m footpath after it was blocked off by a farmer with large logs and farmland machinery.
Locals in Neatishead, Norfolk have been granted permission to use the route, which links the village to Alderfen Broad – one of the smallest lakes in the Norfolk Broads.
It followed a row between walkers and a local farmer which led to claims of intimidation and abusive language.
The Planning Inspectorate ruled in the villagers’ favour following a public inquiry held last month.
The land crossed by the controversial footpath was turned into allotments in 1905 but by the 1980s it had become farmland managed by a tenant farmer.
Villagers say they had used the route for decades but in 2019 they suddenly found ‘no entry’ signs placed at either end.
Tensions flared between the tenant farmer and villagers with complaints of abusive language and intimidation.
The farmer blocked the route with 19 large logs and a fallen tree at one end with heavy farm machinery at the other – before they were removed by villagers.
Walkers had fought to get the path registered as a public right of way and it was accepted following historical evidence.
Villagers claimed they had walked the trail for more than 20 years.
However, Neatishead Poor’s and Fuel Allotment Charity said no public access right existed.
This led to the public inquiry last month which was presided over by Planning Inspector Nigel Farthing.
But Mr Farthing decided not enough had been done to communicate to villagers they could not use the path as signs were only put up in 2019.
He said: “What steps that were taken by the tenant farmers depended upon them being present to challenge a user.
“I accept that this did happen, but I recognise that the tenant farmer’s presence on site was very limited and there were long spells when users could, and did, walk the route unchallenged.”
He concluded on October 31 there was enough evidence to show that walkers had travelled on the route without interruption for a 20-year period between 1999 to 2019.
Mr Farthing therefore decided to confirm the footpath, under the common law legal maxim, ‘once a highway, always a highway.’
Alderfen Broad, which the footpath runs to, is one of the smallest lakes within the Norfolk Broads waterways and a site of scientific interest.
