Pelham Olive wants to create additional footpaths on his land but is facing an uphill battle. Morag Stuart read a ‘private – keep out’ sign but kept on walking
I am a landowner with 9,000 acres. I am probably in the minority of landowners because I encourage walkers on my land. There are, however, additional barriers to access aside from the “prejudice, traffic, locked gates, signs with the dread words ‘private – keep out’” mentioned by John Harris (Walking is a glorious, primal pastime – and far more radical than you think, 26 December). There is the planning department of our national parks to consider.
I was recently encouraged to apply for a grant to create additional footpaths on my land. Indications were that some grant would be forthcoming, and I was told that the next step would be to apply for planning permission, which I did. Several months later I got a reply from the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs national park indicating that permission was highly unlikely to be granted. I was staggered by this. The right hand clearly does not know what the left hand is doing.
