Public footpath that runs through middle of family home to be diverted

By Peter Davison, Local Democracy Reporter

A public footpath that runs through the middle of a family home can be diverted, councillors have agreed. 

The public footpath currently crosses the farmyard – and farmhouse – at Clanger Farm north of Westbury. 

In 2023 the owners were given permission to extend the farmhouse with an annex to provide emergency accommodation for an elderly family member. 

Due to the urgent nature of the request, they agreed that the public footpath that crosses their land could go through the extended building. 

Plans presented at the meeting show a door in the middle of the newly-extended home through which members of the public can legally pass. 

However, at Wiltshire Council’s Western Area Planning Committee on Wednesday 9th July councillors heard that a second footpath – located away from the farmhouse and farmyard – had been established by the landowners back in 2008. 

They heard guidance from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) that members of the public “may not be comfortable following a path through a contained space… because it feels like infringing on the privacy of a house owner.” 

They also heard from the council’s rights of way officer, Ali Roberts, that due to its elevated position the alternative route offered “superior views” for walkers, including a view of Westbury White Horse that the original public footpath did not afford. 

She told the committee that walkers prefer to use the alternative route – a claim supported by a member of the public who regularly walks the new route with his daughter and attended the meeting to speak in favour of the application. 

The committee voted unanimously to recommend to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – whose office ultimately rules on such matters – that the existing footpath be extinguished and that the new alternative route be adopted as a footpath.