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Original poster

Footpath over my property

164 replies

Number12 · 13/04/2020 15:54

We have a Footpath that runs over our property. As you can imagine its very busy at the moment, in fact I've never seen it so busy. Normally we smile, wave chat etc But at the moment that's just not possible. The path itself is single file, room to shuffle past someone oncoming but nothing like 2 metres.

Its been very difficult to be in the garden, I just can't relax because every 30 seconds Im checking to see if anyone is coming and then stepping away with the kids if I see someone. There have been several occasions people have come along and I've not seen or heard them and not one of them has shouted ahead and let me know so I can move away, they just try and pretend they are not there!. The path is half a metre, if that, from where we are working (trying to get veggie going). We have just had three cyclists go past, they didn't shout or ring a bell and we didn't have time to move away.

I've previously emailed the council and they were concerned but they haven't closed the path. So today I did! I know it's illegal but I need to keep my family safe, if people shouted ahead that would be one thing but they don't care!

Ahhh I have I messed up, what would you do?

OP posts:
ErrolTheDragon · 13/04/2020 23:29

Access laws haven’t changed and you are being a NIMBY. You are lucky to have space around you; others do not. Don’t be selfish

She's taken down the tape now - if people had treated her back yard with respect in the first place she wouldn't have put it up.

EachDubh · 13/04/2020 23:34

23:27ErrolTheDragon
We are in Scotland and local councils have allowed this. The deemed the risk to home owners/farmers and public to be too great to stay open. Of course when this is over they will be fully open again.

Petiolaris · 14/04/2020 00:18

put up a sign saying 'Footpath crosses private garden where residents have symptoms of CV-19. Proceed at your own risk
And start coughing and spluttering as they approach. You really need to ask the council to temporarily close it though.

cabbageking · 14/04/2020 01:56

The onus is on you to move if you feel unsafe.
You are putting a vegetable patch in and complaining about others using the path.

They don't have to shout or ring a bell sorry.

Gtugccbjb · 14/04/2020 02:07

Go over the other side of your garden and stop being so neurotic!

alloutoffucks · 14/04/2020 02:11

The path is fenced off. OP you are being utterly ridiculous.

RapunzelinQuarantine · 14/04/2020 02:18

Zillions of public parks, playgrounds, footpaths, cycling paths and other areas the public usually have access to have been closed due to COVID.

Normal rules no longer apply.

Potentially infected people are coming into the OP’s property. (And exactly how many “essential journeys” require walking across someone else’s back garden?) Completely within reason to stop them from breaking social distancing rules and from endangering themselves and others.

alloutoffucks · 14/04/2020 02:22

@rapunzel This is a fenced off footpath. Effectively like a pavement that goes by most peoples garden.

browzingss · 14/04/2020 03:10

As a city person I’m having difficulty imagining the logistics of this. I’ve never come across a public footpath within someone’s garden.

I think we’re all dealing with unreasonable members of the public, whether that’s pedestrians, cyclists, dog owners, drivers etc. I’ve certainly come across obnoxious & rude cyclists in recent days.

If you come across someone blatantly behaving poorly, tell them. But there’s probably more of a risk of virus transmission from having a conversation with someone or them shouting ahead (droplets from mouths) vs them walking past you too closely where the risk is minimal, so you’ll have to balance the risks.

Speaking of risk, if you know that the footpath is narrow enough that they can’t keep 2m away from you in your veggie spot, I think you’ll have to avoid that area to protect yourself. It’s very frustrating but you’ll mitigate the risk to your family. Are the vegetables worth covid 19?

browzingss · 14/04/2020 03:12

Definitely add signs, reiterating that all journeys must be essential, path is narrow so social distancing not possible therefore risk of virus, recommending alternative route to protect everyone etc etc. I’m sure you can word it in a way that would make someone think twice.

BurgerOnTheOrientExpress · 14/04/2020 03:25

Always mystifies me when people live next to an airport, busy road or in this case a public right of way; and then complain about the situation.

I knew one woman who rented a house and then spent 3 years pestering the council to close her road off as she claimed it was a rat run and a danger to her children. She succeeded and then 7 months later moved out.

Reginabambina · 14/04/2020 03:31

If people aren’t complying with social distancing maybe contact you local police force to notify them of the issue. I appreciate that you can’t close the path yourself but equally it’s a public health issue.

PhilCornwall1 · 14/04/2020 05:24

It was in the local paper down here that someone blocked a public right of way across their land due to this virus. Front page stuff down here that is!!

Highways asked them to shift the block and they refused, so they removed it for them and charged for the privilege. Being County Highways, it wasn't cheap.

DryHeave · 14/04/2020 05:34

Put a sign up. Yellow and black stripes around it. “COVID19 WARNING: it is not possible to maintain a 2 metre distance on this footpath”.

Pennywort · 14/04/2020 05:43

@browzingss, I once rented a lovely old house outside Oxford where a public footpath, obviously not fenced, went up the drive, right past the kitchen window and out over a stone stile in the side garden into woods. It wasn’t much used, admittedly, and people generally looked respectful and rather apologetic, but there was something disconcerting about an entire walking group, with knapsacks and OS maps, filing past as you did the washing up!

PhilCornwall1 · 14/04/2020 05:59

@DryHeave To achieve what though? It isn't going to stop people using it.

CheddarGorgeous · 14/04/2020 06:46

Definitely add signs, reiterating that all journeys must be essential, path is narrow so social distancing not possible therefore risk of virus, recommending alternative route to protect everyone etc etc. I’m sure you can word it in a way that would make someone think twice.

lol

AJPTaylor · 14/04/2020 07:33

For the love of god OP.
Picture a garden In a suburb. Corner plot. Alongside and right round 2 sides of the garden is a pavement . Much of the garden is within 2 metres of the pavement.
Person put cones out and blocks off the pavement.
Get a grip

Oblomov20 · 14/04/2020 07:51

Was still hoping for a diagram! Hmm

fluffiphlox · 14/04/2020 08:00

Surely you’d have to be very unlucky to catch anything from a passing walker?

PhilCornwall1 · 14/04/2020 08:02

Definitely add signs, reiterating that all journeys must be essential, path is narrow so social distancing not possible therefore risk of virus, recommending alternative route to protect everyone etc etc. I’m sure you can word it in a way that would make someone think twice.

You think? I'd say it wouldn't. People will say that they are having their daily exercise, which is allowed under the current "instructions". It would probably be torn down in short order.

corabel · 14/04/2020 08:22

AJPTaylor I think you've summed it up. The pavement is about 3 feet from my front door and I need to come out that way to get to my driveway and my garage (v important, it's where the 🍷 is). Does that mean I can block off the pavement so no-one is walking on it when I want to be on my drive? Of course not.

ScatteredMama82 · 14/04/2020 08:50

We use the public rights of way in the countryside around our village all the time. We went on one yesterday that we hadn't before. It goes through a field and along the end of the landowners driveway. They came running out yesterday flapping their arms and shouting at us that we were off the path, we need to go away etc. They have put up 3 lots of temporary fencing across the field which block the path and they have painted over the waymarkers that show the way out of the field. My husband politely pointed out that it was difficult to follow the path with the signs removed, the houseowner sneered at him 'well don't you think that might be the point'?

Honestly, if you buy property with a public right of way running through it, you can't really complain when people use it.

Carlislemumof4 · 14/04/2020 09:09

Surely you’d have to be very unlucky to catch anything from a passing walker?

My guess is a lot of people going out on paths such as this in the countryside for their 'daily exercise' have a false sense of security. Thinking it's more isolated, safer.

While not considering the tens to hundreds of people who've been along the path before them sweating over surfaces, touching the same gates/stiles/fences.

Why should Op and her family be put at such increased risk due to the selfishness of others. Mine and my children's daily exercise is PE with Joe inside and brief amounts of time in our small city garden. Won't be visiting my parents in the lakes or the countryside full stop for the foreseeable.

Astonished these paths haven't yet been closed here in England as in Wales and Scotland. It shouldn't take deaths of farmers to make that happen.

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