November 18th 2023.
Sine Garvie-Mcinally, a former Norfolk County Council solicitor, has erected a four foot high barricade smeared with grease to prevent walkers from using a footpath near her home by the village of Newton by Castle Acre in Norfolk. The barricade covers a 150m stretch of the Nar Valley Way, a 33 mile footpath that runs through Norfolk's woods and fields and is located just 20m away from her cottage.
Mrs Garvie-Mcinally claims she put up the barrier because the route infringes her right to privacy. She says walkers have urinated outside her garden and she has suffered verbal abuse from them. At a public inquiry last week, she expressed that if the decision goes the other way, she will have to sell her home as she wouldn't be able to live in quiet enjoyment.
Warning signs have been put up to alert trespassers that they will be caught on camera. The dispute dates back to 1993 when Mrs Garvie-Mcinally moved into the village with her family. The council ruled it the walkway was a registered path but the row is over whether it was a public one. A local landowner put up signs in 2000 to prevent vehicles from using it, and in 2009 a group of horse riders objected to Norfolk County Council about the posts, leading to Mrs Garvie-Mcinally's objections.
Locals and walkers, with the help of the National Ramblers Association, produced maps showing the route had been used as far back 1774 in an effort to make the path a public byway. Currently, the barrier blocks a section of a path connecting the Nar Valley Way from West Lexham to a road that leads to Castle Acre.
Julie Whales, a 67 year old who lives in Great Dunham, expressed her disbelief at somebody taking away access people had for hundreds of years. Helen Breach, an artist who lives locally, stated that it spoils people's enjoyment of the countryside and seems selfish and not very community-minded.
Planning inspector Dr Paul Freer, who chaired the hearing, is expected to announce early next year whether the barricade must go. The two-day inquiry heard from Mrs Garvie-Mcinally, the Norfolk Ramblers Association, and the homeowner. The inspector surveyed the site and is now assessing the evidence to make a decision on the long-running dispute.
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