Kirklees Strategic Planning Sub Committee have voted unanimously to object to the Department of Transports Section 247 order diverting Holmfirth Footpath 60 at wolfstones. Here is a link to the meeting https://democracy.kirklees.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=148&MId=6510
The vote is in line with the council’s previous decision refusing the S257 application in January 2020. Last week Holme Valley parish Council also voted to object to the current diversion order.
The Secretary of State will either have to decide the matter at a public inquiry or use his discretion and abandon the process. Given the level, consistency and quality of objections the latter would seem a more appropriate course of action and would have the added benefit of protecting valuable public funds.
Meanwhile on the ground a new fence has sprung up. Members of the public who pay taxes to fund department of transport diversion orders and public inquiries are now confined to a 1.2 metre width (all the definitive map & statement currently record). What a wonderful irony that in the midst of a global pandemic a public way which has been physically about 4 meters wide since the 1826 Netherthong Enclosure Awards is now reduced to a fraction of its former self in 2020 when we need it most. The commoners of 1826 were in a much better position to socially distance than the long suffering ramblers of 2020 as far as Holmfirth Footpath 60 is concerned.
Path Watch 