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Those of us who had been regular walkers between Acrefield Road and Woolton Park since the 1980s were convinced that the Glenacres path was a Right of Way. As the evidence presented to this Inquiry has demonstrated, none of us had ever been challenged, or heard of anyone else being challenged, until the wall was built. None of us had seen any notices stating that it was not a Right of Way. A Byron Court Management Company witness confirmed that the notices displayed referred only to "Private Property" and to the fact that the rubbish bins and car parking spaces were for the use of Byron Court residents. A Public Right of Way marked on a Definitive Map will almost inevitably run across private property, because adopted highways are not included in the Map.
Our fundamental case is that in 1984, when Liverpool City Council gave planning permission for the omission of a footpath from the Woolton Park Close housing development, the Council, as land owner, demonstrated that it had no intention not to dedicate the Acrefield Bank/Glenacres route as a Right of Way. It overruled the objections of the Director of Social Services - which echoed the Matron's views. It also overruled the objections of the Woolton and Gateacre Societies, who were aware of the Matron's views and fearful that the Acrefield Bank route might, as a result, be closed off. The Planning Officer's report in 1984 stated that an "Alternative Link" through the Acrefield Bank grounds had "been achieved". Evidence presented by the Byron Court Management Company, based on Woolton Society newsletters, indicates that the tarmac driveway down from Woolton Park to Glenacres had in fact been created in 1979 (nominally for emergency vehicle use). Several of the Byron Court Management Company's witnesses have confirmed that they used it in the 1980s as a 'short cut' to Acrefield Road from Reynolds Park. Some of them recalled being 'told off' for disturbing the elderly residents of Acrefield Bank, but this did not stop them from using the path.
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