CAMPAIGNERS for free public access to the Stoke Lodge playing fields scored a significant victory late last year when Bristol City Council’s Public Rights of Way and Greens Committee voted to record four new public footpaths crossing Stoke Lodge Playing Field.
But the We Love Stoke Lodge group faces a further battle this month when a judge will consider Cotham School’s legal challenge to the committee’s previous decision to grant Village Green status to the public open space.
The school leases the playing fields from the council for games lessons but is not currently using it because of safeguarding concerns. It had put up a fence around ther site but this had to be removed after the village green ruling.
The court case is due to start on January 27 and will last five days with an extra day for closing submissions.
A spokesperson for We Love Stoke Lodge said: “We are enormously grateful to our generous supporting community which is 100 per cent committed to protecting public access to this beautiful open space for all users – that means local clubs, the community and the school. It remains the case that no one wants to prevent Cotham doing PE at Stoke Lodge – this whole saga has been caused by the school’s pursuit of a fence that Ofsted says it doesn’t need. “
The committee’s decision on the footpaths at an extraordinary meeting in November 27, which is subject to a six-week consultation period, marks the latest twist in the saga.
A total of 99 public statements of support were submitted to the meeting, with just one against, from the school.
A report by independent consultant Robin Carr said there had been 155 claims from people saying they had used the four paths as far back as 1946 and that this arguably met the criteria for establishing formal public rights of way.
But it also said there was evidence that Bristol City Council were merely giving permission for people to walk on the fields, which meant the use would not be ‘as of right’.
The report said it could be argued that the fields being used by various schools over many years ‘implies’ that they are not accessible to the public.
However, the committee unanimously agreed there was “overwhelming” evidence that public rights of way existed, having been accrued over two distinct time periods between the 1940s and the 1980s totalling 40 years.
Alan Preece, who submitted the rights of way application, said after the meeting: “I and my family had been privileged to be able to cross Stoke Lodge to various destinations around Stoke Bishop for 45 years until Cotham decided they no longer wanted to share the space with the community and built a fence costing a small fortune with public money to control access.
“With the help of the community willing to give witness, and help from many friends, and support from an independent legal expert, we have been able to petition the council to restore the rights of way that were taken from us, and for that I am immensely grateful.”
A spokesperson for We Love Stoke Lodge said: “We are delighted that Professor Preece’s application has been successful.
“The four routes cross the field east-west and north-south, plus two diagonal paths in the lower field. Their existence, now formally recognised, means that Cotham School cannot fence them off or restrict access to them.
“This also means that the school’s ongoing High Court litigation, in which it seeks to strip Stoke Lodge of its village green status in order to control access to the field, is pointless.
“We call on Cotham School’s governing body to call a halt to this ridiculous waste of scarce education funds.”
The school has not responded to a request for a comment following the meeting, but in a written statement to the committee, chair of governors Sandra Fryer and headteacher Joanne Butler said councillors were facing “community pressure to take action which renders the use of Cotham School Playing Fields impossible”.
They said the public rights of way decision should be deferred until the High Court challenge against town green status had been concluded.
Includes reporting by Adam Postans, Local Democracy Reporting Service