Footpath 39 - Church Lane

Further to complaints raised regarding access to this footpath, below is the response from Essex County Council:

The Public Right of Way team have confirmed that they received an enquiry regarding the structures at either end of this footpath in January and they are now in the process of trying to contact the landowner or the occupier. The land is not registered which makes this task very difficult. As the land is grazed the team cannot simply remove the obstructions, and as the stiles or gates are the property and the responsibility of the occupier to maintain, they cannot be requested to replace them with more suitable structures either.

What further complicates this matter is that the path people follow at the southern end is not the definitive line. The definitive line is obstructed by properties on Crays Hill. The team will try to identify the occupier and ask them to address the structure at the southern end, but there is no legal power to make them do anything at this location because, as advised, it is not the highway. It would of course alleviate the issue of the properties obstructing the definitive line, so we will do our best to persuade them should they be contactable.