News / Stoke Lodge
Four new public footpaths recorded at Stoke Lodge
There were 99 statements of support in favour of an application to record four new footpaths crossing Stoke Lodge and only one objection.
This one objection was from Cotham School, who employed a solicitor and a barrister in their unsuccessful attempt to prevent the new designations of public rights of way across the playing fields in Stoke Bishop.
A school spokesperson said they are “deeply disappointed” and confirmed they will be attempting to get the decision overturned.
is needed now More than ever
There will now be six weeks of formal consultation to seek additional evidence. If there are objections to the order, it would be submitted to the secretary of state to make the final decision.
The school has previously used the council-owned land for PE lessons but pupils have not been taken to the site since the perimeter fencing around it was removed.
The footpaths application had been made in May 2018 by Alan Preece, an emeritus professor at the University of Bristol’s medical school, with witness statements providing evidence of use dating back to 1946.
Councillors sitting on the public rights of way and greens committee agreed that four routes crossing the field east to west and north to south, plus two diagonal paths in the lower field, should be officially recognised as footpaths.
Preece said: “I and my family had been privileged to be able to cross Stoke Lodge to various destinations around Stoke Bishop for 45 years until Cotham decided they no longer wanted to share the space with the community, and built a fence costing a small fortune with public money to control access.
“With the help of the community willing to give witness, and help from many friends, and support from an independent legal expert, we have been able to petition the council to restore the rights of way that were taken from us, and for that I am immensely grateful.”
Stoke Lodge campaigners walk along one of the footpaths – photo: We Love Stoke Lodge
Committee chairman John Goulandris, a Conservative councillor for Stoke Bishop, told the meeting: “The recommendation is clear that the footpaths should be added to the map of rights of way.
“What I find particularly powerful is the number of people who’ve supported these rights of way.
“Having read those statements, they’re very passionate and a lot of them go back a long way.”
Lib Dem councillor Tim Kent said: “The evidence was overwhelming that clearly there was a footpath and people had accrued those rights over the time period.”
Kent said the rights of way had effectively already been established before signs warning people not to trespass were installed in 1985.
Labour’s Kaz Self added: “I’ve looked at the things that Cotham School has said in its objections and I’m happy that all those can be dismissed. I would be happy to accept these public rights of way…
“The catchment area for Cotham School does include children from deprived areas, and access to physical activity is really important to them.
“I’m concerned about what might happen with these public rights of way in terms of where schoolchildren may end up playing.”
Councillors sitting on the public rights of way and greens committee agreed that four routes should be officially recognised as footpaths – map: Bristol City Council
A spokesperson for We Love Stoke Lodge said: “We are delighted that Professor Preece’s application has been successful.
“Members of the community spoke from the heart today about the critical importance of these footpaths, and how deeply the loss of them was felt when Cotham School locked everyone out…
“Their existence, now formally recognised, means that Cotham School cannot fence them off or restrict access to them.
“This also means that the school’s ongoing High Court litigation, in which it seeks to strip Stoke Lodge of its village green status in order to control access to the field, is pointless.
“Now more than ever, Cotham’s court case is an appalling waste of both school funds and council resources.
“The school simply cannot have the fence that just one or two key individuals have doggedly pursued for so long.
“We call on the rest of Cotham School’s governing body to call a halt to this ridiculous waste of scarce education funds.
“Cotham School’s rights under the lease are subject to ‘all existing rights and use of the property, including use by the community’.
“Today some of those existing rights have been formally identified and will be recorded for future generations as public rights of way.
“The school willingly signed up to this. Now it needs to live up to it.”
Campaigners are fighting to protect Stoke Lodge’s village green status – photo: Martin Booth
In a statement on the latest developments in the long-running saga, a school spokesperson said: “Cotham School is deeply disappointed that the City Council’s Public Rights of Way and Greens Committee, chaired by the Stoke Bishop councillor, has bowed again to an organised community campaign to pass a resolution confirming that four routes across our school playing fields subsist.
“Cotham School continues to robustly challenge the existence of the claimed routes and will now object to the Definitive Map Modification Order being made.
“Cotham School is one of the city’s largest schools, with nearly 1,700 students whose school playing fields are at risk.
“For many of our students, living in inner-city housing, access to our school playing fields is vital to their health and wellbeing.
“Cotham School has a duty to provide a mixed and balanced curriculum, including physical education, and also to keep our students safe at school.
“We cannot do that with the claimed routes running across our playing fields.
“Cotham School has a 125-year lease of the playing fields, leased by Bristol City Council to Cotham School.
“The land has been classified for educational purposes by the City Council since shortly after the Second World War.”
Bristol24/7 understands that the school currently has several vacancies on its governing body, with chair of governors Sandra Fryer recently becoming the new chair of Bristol Civic Society.
Main photo: Martin Booth
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