Anger over £100,000 cost of south Shropshire footpath row
An estimated £100,000 spent by Shropshire Council on fighting an access battle over a footpath in the county was today branded a 'scandalous' waste of money.
Farmer John Wattis said the council should never have gone to such extravagant lengths to make the path near Craven Arms a public right of way when a similar one already existed just 400 yards away.
The council has defended its actions, saying it had a legal duty to investigate claims about access rights to paths and to designate them rights of way where appropriate.
The row centres on a 350-yard-long track in Seifton, near Craven Arms, which walkers and people in the area disputed was a public right of way.
Shropshire Council investigated the issue and eventually sided with the walkers, officially designating the track a public footpath.
Opponents appealed the decision and the matter eventually went to a public inquiry on September 25 last year at which a Government inspector upheld the council's decision.
Mr Wattis, who runs Newhouse Farm with his son Bill, part of which runs adjacent to the path, said an expert witness whose evidence was submitted to the inquiry later said identical cases in which he had been called upon to testify had cost the local authority involved at least £100,000 in legal fees and other costs.
Shropshire Council has declined to comment on the bill it had to pay.
Mr Wattis, who attended the public inquiry, said: "What does annoy me is that the council spent so long fighting this case when there is an almost identical path just 400 yards away."
