Chawton Parish Council

36 Winchester Road

Chawton

Hants

GU34 1RX

01420 83440

10^th April 2007

Emma Noyce

Map Review Officer

Rights of Way

Countryside Service

Hampshire County Council

Re BOAT application, Mounters Lane, Chawton

Dear Ms Noyce

Following your letter of the 22^nd November 2006, our meeting and correspondence, we provide our formal response relating to the BOAT application at Mounters lane, Chawton.

This route has long since been used as a local track for pedestrian access and has not been used to anyone's knowledge for through access by vehicles, at least as far back as living memory permits. The only traffic we know of is very infrequent access by vehicles to the railway bridge for maintenance purposes relating to the Watercress Line; the period where the water board ran a new pipe through to the Treloar's development about 4 years ago and possibly for the landowner's access to the surrounding roads - none of which is through traffic.

As previously discussed, the track is unsuitable for motorised vehicle use by nature of its soft composition and narrow width for more than one third of its length and that's after it was widened during the pipe laying by virtue of the size of the machinery used. Even on foot during the winter months the track is barely passable due to soft mud and during the summer it's barely passable at the top section due to the vegetation.

The route is the only safe pedestrian access from the north end of Chawton towards Alton and into the village; this is by nature of the A31 which intersects a part of the village. The lane is used heavily by pedestrians - many of who are young children on their way to school; equestrian traffic that goes up towards Chawton woods and occasional recreational cyclists.

Clearly any motorised vehicles on such a surface, in close proximity to pedestrians and horses and cyclists without any separation such as segregated footpaths and roads or any options to move out of the way due to the various ditches, trees and plants, plus the soft composition of the ground would make it incredibly unsafe mixture. Cars wouldn't be able to stop quickly, pedestrians would not be able to move out of the way and horses would be frightened by the rapid approach of vehicles on the narrow route. This is clearly an accident waiting to happen. Additionally, beyond the lane at the bottom, adjacent to the underpass there is additional pedestrian traffic merging from Alton. Foreign traffic using the proposed route would be unaware of the additional safety issues at this point namely the combination of the footpath drying up, the underpass starting and the intersection of the road all on the blind and narrow corner. This would create a second serious safety issue.

It is also worth pointing out that the existing road junction at the Butts and Chawton Park Road is very busy, therefore the presence of an alternative link between the points would undoubtedly result in some people attempting to use this as an inappropriate cut-through.

We therefore feel strongly that it would be foolish to re-classify the route, particularly with reference to the recent changes in legislation via the Natural and Rural Communities Act 2006, which explicitly extinguishes unrecorded rights for mechanically propelled vehicles in an aim to prevent further vandalism of tracks by motorised vehicles. At this point in time, the route appears to be unclassified on your records as listed on your web site - even with the letter from Chawton parish Council to HCC a decade ago asking for it to be correctly classified as a bridleway, in line with the legislation at that time.

As stated previously, since there is already a well maintained road that connects both ends points of the track, namely Chawton Park Road and the Winchester Road, re-classification would serve no useful purpose for any lawful use, other than providing ready access to vehicles into private land to which no public rights of access exist. It is therefore likely In our view that the areas would become a magnet for gypsies, and those who seek to fly tip - something which is has become a more serious problem with the recent development in the Treloars site at Alton.

To further complicate things, at both ends of the route, when compared to the historic maps, as discussed during your visit, there is now a car park at the top end of the lane and a set of houses at bottom end, we know that some re-routing occurred in the middle of the lane due to the second railway bridge which has now long since gone, therefore its highly unlikely that the original route shown on the historical maps, if it ever existed as a vehicular route could not be proved to match that which is claimed by the applicant, thereby making the application invalid.

It is also clear that the original reason for the application being made by Mr Fry is to support his hobby, namely via a horse and cart (i.e. for non-mechanically propelled vehicles) and the BOAT application is understood to be the only mechanism he could utilise to request re-classification, the net effect would result in extended use by other users in a completely inappropriate location and the required physical barriers to prevent vehicular access would also prevent his desired use of the track or conflict with other road users. This is a loose-loose-loose-loose situation for everyone involved - the applicant, the village, HCC and off-roaders.

Chawton parish council is therefore strongly opposed to the route being re-classified as anything other than a Bridleway, since this definition accurately reflects its purpose over recent decades, today and in our view historically. As previously stated, this stance has been held by previous generations of the Chawton Parish Council, as you can see from the correspondence around a decade ago.

In our view, the recent legal moves stopping the creation of new BOATs (NRCA 2006) makes HCC's actions in this regard perverse and anachronistic. If passed, we will therefore appeal against any decision in favour of this new BOAT and engage with and support the Hampshire Association of Town and Parish Councils (HAPTC) who, as you are probably aware are also heavily active on this topic in other areas of the county.

If your decision is to allow a re-classification, against the overwhelming evidence that it's not necessary, unsafe and being actively legislated against by central government, then we can but ask that a concurrent restriction order is placed on the route to prevent vehicular access, whilst continuing to allow pedestrian and equestrian access and that the negative impact on the area is kept to the absolute minimum.

Finally, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that Chawton is in a well established conservation area, is generally un-lit with the absence of streetlights and tries to maintain the historic nature of the setting, since this is what draws the tens of thousands of visitors who come to the area in the year to see the area which inspired the local author. Any signage, modern barriers, etc would therefore require exceptionally careful planning and consultation with Chawton Parish Council to ensure that the location was not adversely affected by any change of classification.

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs Mandy Sowik

Clerk, Chawton Parish Council