Running: Striders in footpath row

From the archive, first published Wednesday 29th Nov 2000.

A Billericay running club has questioned Basildon Council's decision to continue to keep an access route to Norsey Wood closed, 13 years after it was first shut off.

The Deerbank Road entrance has been shut since the 1987 hurricane but Billericay Striders have now asked the council whether it would be possible to reopen the route.

Club member Ian Grant said: "We accept there are other entrances and a large number of paths through the wood, but this is one of the original main entrances and it only got closed due to the level of damage.''

Members have actually offered to help clear the route, but the council has argued that it is no longer desirable to do so.

Council officers have argued that to re-establish this access point would have a detrimental impact on the eco-system which has developed at the site in the intervening 13 years.

Countryside Services Manager Steve Prewer said in a letter to the club: "A recent survey of the flora that has recolonised the route since 1987 shows that this section is now fully integrated within the surrounding woodland.

"To re-open the path would effectively split an ecological unit.

"There could also be a negative response from English Nature to the proposal, under statutory restrictions. The conservation case for leaving the Dearbank access undisturbed is compelling."

Mr Prewer has argued that the network of public footpaths at the wood is already extensive and more footpaths would be damaging.

The club's committee is now waiting to see the response of members before deciding on their next move.

Mr Grant said: "Mr Prewer's response was very comprehensive, and we will have to see what our members' views are before we take any further action."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.

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