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Vixen Tor Footpath Order Defeated
A planning inspector has quashed efforts by Devon County Council to create public footpaths at Vixen Tor.
The decision, resulting from the conclusion of the recent Public Inquiry, marks the end of the latest chapter in the saga of public access at Vixen Tor.
Devon County Council, supported by the Ramblers Association and the British Mountaineering Council, had sought to establish footpaths crossing the Vixen Tor enclosure on the basis of de facto previous usage in the 20 years prior to 1976.
In the years since 1976 it has always been acknowledged that access to the enclosure and the Tor itself was only by permission of the owner and therefore this precludes the establishment of any right of way. However, many walkers had come forward to say that in the preceeding 20 year period they had enjoyed free access to the land. On that basis Devon County Council had created an order to establish a Public Right of Way through the enclosure.
At the Inquiry, the owner's legal representative had pointed out that establishment of the Public Right of Way did not confer access rights to the Tor itself.
The case for Devon CC was considerably undermined by the late discovery of offical documents that clearly indicated that access to the enclosure in 1966 was also by express permission of the landowner. Following this discovery both the Ramblers and the BMC withdrew from the Inquiry.
Dealing with the evidence of usage prior to 1966 the inspector found that there was considerable inconsistency between various walkers' accounts. Although he accepted that "people have walked to Vixen Tor and used routes through the enclosure" he was not satisfied that this usage corresponded with the mapping of the route in the Public Right of Way order created by Devon County Council and therefore he did not confirm the order.
For those who have never been able to visit the Tor some photographs can be found here.
BBC coverage of the story can be found here.
The inspector's deecision has not yet been posted on the internet. A link will be posted here when it appears.
