I mentioned this obstruction a few weeks ago and I’m happy to report that the offending fence has now been completely removed!
It would hard to find a more straightforward and obvious obstruction on a public footpath yet It’s taken 2 years to get it removed. In that time the Council’s position has moved from “it’s not an obstruction” to “it is an obstruction”. That’s quite a change and demonstrates the Council’s default position of permitting obstructions on public footpaths unless and until they come under intense pressure to do otherwise.
In this and many other cases it takes a notice under the Highways Act to force Kirklees into action. This is despite the authorities statutory duties under the same act and its duty to act in the public interest.
In addition this is an incredibly wasteful way to work. It involves multiple site visits to the same obstruction to record and photograph the same thing two years apart, land searches, letters to landowners all duplicated etc etc. This is time and money which could be spent removing one of the many other Kirklees obstructions.
Why would any publicly funded organisation with clear statutory duties choose to operate in this way?
Path Watch 