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Highland Riverside Walk

Highland Riverside Walk


Postby Walking Scotland 1 » Sun Aug 12, 2018 7:42 pm

Hi
A regular local route now has a slight change due to newly constructed gates and fence re-routing the walk behind the waterside house. The impression I have is the owners tell me they are politely requesting people re-route for purposes of their privacy as they plan to spent much more time there.
Signs show Public Foot Path direction. The detour is at a guesstimate a few hundred metres.
I continued on the old route and was approached by the owner requesting i use the alternative offered in future. I said I would ask for thoughts
I think locals have been walking this route for decades; it's lovely. Part of me thinks its not going to be a big issue for me to walk around and part of me thinks 'slippery slope and all that'..
Whats the thoughts please 🤔
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Re: Highland Riverside Walk

Postby Moriarty » Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:13 pm

I would have thought Step 1 would be to involve the Local Access Officer whose job it is to investigate if these kind of manoeuvres are in keeping with Access legislation.

You said "Public footpath" - in general it would be unusual for a private home owner to be able to reroute that without permissions, if they haven't been sought then the Access Officer should get involved.
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Re: Highland Riverside Walk

Postby Walking Scotland 1 » Sun Aug 12, 2018 8:21 pm

Thank you..
The home owner is titled and I think he owns most of the surrounding acres and probably the fishing rights too.
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Re: Highland Riverside Walk

Postby RocksRock » Mon Aug 13, 2018 10:41 am

"The home owner is titled and I think he owns most of the surrounding acres......."

So much the more should he be "encouraged" to follow the legislation.......the Local Access Officer can teach him what it is, if needed! Saves you any unpleasantness. :D
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Re: Highland Riverside Walk

Postby Sgurr » Mon Aug 13, 2018 10:51 am

A vote for "slippery slope and all that". I live in a house overlooking the sea. Only problem is a public road runs past my front door. The previous owners kept cones in the basement which , I suspect with the agreement of the police, as she could say she needed to have the car outside the door as she was a GP. We inherited them but we have no such needs and it would be outrageous if I tried to cone off the bit of street outside the window, annoyed as I am when huge vans block the view from the downstairs. I can always go upstairs, and if the owner of the home you cite is worried about people walking past their window, they have the same option....or lace curtains/blinds. How private is it reasonable to be?
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Re: Highland Riverside Walk

Postby jmarkb » Mon Aug 13, 2018 12:13 pm

Definitely one for the local Access Officer. It might not be totally clear-cut as it may depend on the path's legal status as a Right of Way (see https://www.scotways.com/faq/rights-of-way-law) and on the extent of the curtilage of the house.
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Re: Highland Riverside Walk - Re-routed

Postby Walking Scotland 1 » Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:19 pm

Thank you for all replies.

I did ask the landowner if I was alone in walking on the original path; he told me 95% of people are using the rerouted option which surprised me somewhat. He did suggest that I would probably have felt uncomfortable walking past but I genuinely didn't because I've been taking that route for sometime as indeed there was no alternative and of course it's beautiful following the riverbank.
I'm fairly sure but can't say 100% but during the course of my conversation with the owner my impression was it was mooted that it's not a right of way.
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Re: Highland Riverside Walk

Postby Walking Scotland 1 » Fri Aug 17, 2018 10:25 pm

Apparently it's being officially raised by numerous people so it will be an interesting case.
The question they are looking into being is there a right of public assess under the 2003 Land Reform act and if not why not..
In the meantime I'm going the new route to avoid appearing antagonistic.
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Re: Highland Riverside Walk

Postby Sgurr » Sat Aug 18, 2018 10:10 pm

Depends if they have as much muscle and as many contacts as Anne Gloag

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/jun/14/ruralaffairs.scotland
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Re: Highland Riverside Walk

Postby Walking Scotland 1 » Sun Aug 19, 2018 9:44 am

No doubt it will be long wait .... in the meantime I'm doing as he's requesting.
So the impression I have is that it would be in your interest to say you've got a few priceless pieces of art or whatever and for that reason you need more privacy to protect it. In fairness they probably do.
Hmm 🤔 wonder if my grandmother's clock would cut it 😂
Goodness he may be very thankful to the previous case.
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Re: Highland Riverside Walk

Postby Walking Scotland 1 » Fri Aug 24, 2018 5:59 pm

Just an update

Wow I'm shocked to hear so quick but basically the official line as I understand it is the owner has the right to reroute the path as its `reasonable ' and the public don't have the right to walk the original path route.
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Re: Highland Riverside Walk

Postby TheFox » Sat Aug 25, 2018 1:28 pm

I think it's perfectly reasonable. In most parts of the world private land is considered private, and as such the owners have any right to use it exclusively and don't need to let others pass over it.

Scottish people (and the people of a select few other countries) are very privileged in having legislation in place that makes it legal for them to walk pretty much everywhere they please, with the provision that it's not right past someone's window/through someone's front- or backyard. As such the owner in question should have any right to request/demand that people don't walk right past a building on his own land that he is staying in a considerable amount of time. It's HIS land. Plus the detour seems to be only a couple hundred metres.

Yeah, if the path is a public right of way, technically the land owner would be in the wrong, but so what? Respect people's privacy ...
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Re: Highland Riverside Walk

Postby Walking Scotland 1 » Sat Aug 25, 2018 10:20 pm

Thank you for your comments it's interesting to read your thoughts.
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Re: Highland Riverside Walk

Postby Sunset tripper » Sun Aug 26, 2018 8:33 am

TheFox wrote:I think it's perfectly reasonable. In most parts of the world private land is considered private, and as such the owners have any right to use it exclusively and don't need to let others pass over it.

Scottish people (and the people of a select few other countries) are very privileged in having legislation in place that makes it legal for them to walk pretty much everywhere they please, with the provision that it's not right past someone's window/through someone's front- or backyard. As such the owner in question should have any right to request/demand that people don't walk right past a building on his own land that he is staying in a considerable amount of time. It's HIS land. Plus the detour seems to be only a couple hundred metres.



It's a very complex subject but Scotland has this great access legislation because that's what the people of Scotland wanted. I think many people who live in Scotland see the landowners as privileged custodians of the land looking after it for everyone to enjoy responsibly.
Anyone who visits Scotland has these access rights also.

It's true that in many parts of the world private landowners can bar the people from vast areas of land and if the majority of the citizens of these countries are happy with that then fair enough, but if not it is up to them to change the laws.


TheFox wrote:
Yeah, if the path is a public right of way, technically the land owner would be in the wrong, but so what? Respect people's privacy ...

If the land owner is in the wrong, people are entitled to use the path - end of story. You can walk on a right of way past someones property and still respect peoples privacy, it happens thousands of times every day in cities, towns, villages, and rural areas all over the world.

I guess your view is fairly common, and very common in places where access and right to roam is very strict.
It's a mindset. :D

I cant really comment on this individual case without knowing the location. :?
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Re: Highland Riverside Walk

Postby Walking Scotland 1 » Sun Aug 26, 2018 9:39 am

Yes that's an interesting one 'it's a mindset ' ; I wholly agree with that. I was brought up on a croft where fishers, walkers made their way uninterrupted across our fields and dad never batted an eye unless their dog attacked the sheep. The owners were warned once. I was brought up with ' there's no trespassing in Scotland '. I was also brought up with close the gate etc etc.. respect.

I don't know enough about the access laws but I guess in this case because the landowner is offering an alternative route that ticks the 'reasonable' box. The impression I have from official channels is that because the owner has sprayed and cut an alternative he followed the code. The original path was not registered a right of way but I don't know if its up to a council to suggest or determine if it should have been or should/can now be. I wonder what would happen if the landowner does not continue to cut and spray the new route. I have wondered will this be a drip drip situation to change. The original route was worn back by walkers but additionally strimmed for fishers. The new path crosses the immediate entrance to the home ; that's apparently acceptable by the owner. I hope it continues to be acceptable.
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