Footpath saga at Bristol school's playing fields takes another turn

Four paths across a council-owned school playing field and green open space could be registered as public footpaths, councillors meeting this week have been told, as the saga of the Stoke Lodge Playing Fields is set to take another twist.

Formally recognising and establishing the paths on the Stoke Lodge playing fields would be the latest chapter in a legal battle that has gone on for more than a decade at the green open space, which were once the grounds of Stoke Lodge and are now used by Cotham School as playing fields.

A report to an extraordinary meeting of the council’s Public Rights of Way committee will advise councillors that the criteria for establishing new public footpaths could have been met, because dozens of people have provided evidence that they have used them dating back to just after World War II, but that there is also evidence that for long periods of time where it was clear the owners of the land were merely giving permission for people to walk on the fields.

A report by independent footpath consultant Robin Carr concludes that there are ‘sufficient grounds’ for registering the four footpaths, it was ‘not a clear-cut case’, so it is up to councillors to ‘make its own decision’.

Applications for the rights of way to be formally established across Stoke Lodge playing fields are the latest battleground between local residents who have come together in a campaign group called We Love Stoke Lodge, and Cotham School, which has leased the grounds for 125 years from Bristol City Council to use as school playing fields.

The campaign group has been trying to establish the fields as a ‘Town Green’ and to maintain public access to the land, while Cotham School said it needs to restrict access for the safety of its pupils doing PE there.

The row has rumbled on for more than a decade and came to a head when Cotham School fenced off much of the Stoke Lodge playing fields, sparking direct action by local residents and a row over vandalism, covert surveillance, allegations and counter-allegations which ended up involving police chiefs, council leaders and the local MP.

More recently, the row has transferred to the courts and City Hall. The council’s public rights of way committee granted Town Green status on Stoke Lodge - a decision that Cotham School has been challenging in the courts, taking the council to court in a case that is due to be heard in the coming weeks. The case is unusual, with the council acting as landowner and landlord to Cotham School, but also as the public rights of way authority that granted the status in the first place.

Now, this latest attempt to establish the rights of local people to use the land - or at least the footpaths on the land, will again force councillors to make a decision.

The report by the consultant Robin Carr said that there had been 155 claims in total from people saying they had used the four routes between 1946 and 2018, which met the criteria for establishing a footpath should be formally recognised.

But Mr Carr said it could be argued that the fields being used by various schools over the years ‘implies’ that they are not accessible by the general public. “It appears to be accepted that the land is, and has been, used by various schools over many years, with it being set out as various sports pitches and tracks,” he said.

“It may also follow that whilst the schools were actively using those pitches and or tracks, members of the public would not be able to walk across them. In view of the court cases discussed above, it may therefore be possible to imply that use was subject to an implied permission. If that were the case, use would not be “as of right”,” he added.

The report by council officers to councillors tells them they have to make up their own minds. “The evidence shows that it is reasonable to allege that the claimed routes subsist based on the available evidence of use between 1946 and 2018,” the council report to councillors said. “It would be reasonable to allege that there is insufficient evidence to indicate that landowners had taken overt action to demonstrate to users that they did not intend to dedicate a right of way over the claimed routes prior to 2018,” it added.

“It is the independent consultant’s view that there are sufficient grounds for making the requested Definitive Map Modification Orders on the basis that it can be reasonably alleged that public rights subsist,” it added. “The Surveying Authority must make its own decision based upon the available and relevant evidence as detailed in the independent report,” it said.

The councillors on the public rights of way committee meet at 2pm on Wednesday this week, November 27.