Agenda item

Hayes and Coney Hall ward

Report and appendices attached - please note that Appendix II can be provided to Members on request, but the material can be found at paragraphs 17-29 of the Consultants’ report.

Report No. ES20127

The Sub-Committee was asked to determine an application for a Definitive Map Modification Order to recognise a public right of way at Hayes Street Farm, Hayes, Bromley. The application had been made under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which placed a duty on the Council, as the Surveying Authority for public rights of way, to keep the Definitive Map and Statement under continuous review.

The Council had commissioned Sue Rumfitt Associates to investigate the application and their report contained all the relevant evidence. Their recommendation was that, on balance, the application for a bridleway should be refused, but an Order should be made to record a footpath along the application route, on the basis that it can be reasonably alleged that a footpath subsists. The Sub-Committee also received a letter from Burgess Salmon dated 27 September 2022 drawing attention to various matters including the planning permission granted for a development now under construction.

In response to a question, officers confirmed that should the footpath be added to the Definitive Map, the standard width of the path would be designated as 2 metres wide, following the 2007 Defra guidance and as stated in the report, but there could be narrower points as necessary.

RESOLVED that the Director of Corporate Services and Governance, in consultation with the Director of Environment and Public Protection, be authorised to make a Definitive Map Modification Order under section 53(c)(i) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to add a footpath to the Definitive Map and Statement for the route shown from A-F on the plan in Appendix A and make an Order under Section 53(3)(c)(ii) for the route shown on the said plan.