Keep Hartford path open

I WRITE concerning the proposal to close a footpath between Desborough Road and Main Street in order to build a small, two-bedroom bungalow as reported in The Hunts Post newspaper on Wednesday, February 27 (page 16).

I moved to Hartford in 1975 and daily walked down this path from Desborough Road to Main Street to the bus stop. The path was part of the approach to the farmhouse owned by Mr and Mrs Dines. I knew the path by the name of “Dines Way”.

Although I no longer use the path daily, I used it several times a week to get to the Whippet’s bus stop, until the access was closed by Bewick Homes who are building some new houses on land adjacent to it.

I understood that if a path was walked several times a week for over 30 years and it had never been closed then it became a “Right of Way”.

On my street plan, which is a copy of that found in my Phillips “Red Book” of Huntingdon, it is shown as a road and when I first moved here there were the occasional vehicles using this.

I am concerned that this path that saves pedestrians time, may be lost as I believe that there is now proposed to build a bungalow on this land.

This is such a narrow strip of land that if a bungalow is built I do not see how the path could be reinstated without it being so narrow that it would become a muggers paradise and a danger to people on foot, apart from the bungalow being so near adjacent properties.

It now has been several months since Bewick Homes blocked off the footpath. I want this path to be designated a “right of way”, and I am sure many other readers must feel the same way.

ESTHER COTTON

Rodney Road

Hartford